


Planet Remnant

by Sillva



Category: Halo, RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, Canon-Typical Violence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Gen, Mild Language, Space Battles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-12 00:42:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 93,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4458764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sillva/pseuds/Sillva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby Rose, captain of the deep space scavenging team known as RWBY have been sent from their home world a long thought destroyed planet resting on the outskirts of UNSC territory Known as Remnant. Their mission, to locate the source of a UNSC distress beacon scour the area for anything that could be of use.</p><p>While responding to the distress beacon Ruby and her crew find the broken remains of a large UNSC frigate named the Forward Onto Dawn. Excited by the prospect of looting a military vessel they begin their search but find  way more than they barged for. Will it prove to be their undoing or perhaps have they found the key to their planet's survival?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Forward onto Dawn

**Year 2557 - four years after halo event.**

That which was once a proud UNSC combat vessel known as the Forward onto Dawn was now little more than a heap of gutted wreckage floating aimlessly through the vast emptiness space. From the outside the ship would seem completely devoid of life, just a hollow shell of what it used to be. And if left undisturbed that’s likely how it would have stayed. However looks can be deceiving and fate has a bad habit of throwing curve balls whenever it sees fit. And one such curve ball came in the form of a rip in the space near the forward onto dawn. The rip was a slipsace opening created by a small vessel that soon emerged from it.

Aboard the new ship a computer terminal flickered on to display the image of a small girl with short red hair, green eyes, and freckles. “Slipspace jump completed, the target has been located, and all systems operating normally. I am awaiting further instruction Captain!” The girl said while giving a salute to another girl seated in front of the monitor. This girl was dressed in a red cloak and a similarly colored suit of power armor. The armor covered her from head to toe obscuring all other features.

“Thanks Penny, that will be all for now.” The red armored girl responded before she turned towards another slightly taller woman in bright yellow armor. “So what do you think Yang?”

The yellow armored woman known as Yang gazed out of the reinforced glass window of their cockpit to see the ship before them. “What’s there to think? I mean wow, that’s seriously the UNSC Forward onto Dawn! I heard it was a big ship but dang, it’s just so huge! Who would have thought that this was the source of that distress beacon. What a lucky break, this is going to be a sweet score for sure. I mean these military ships almost always have some real goodies to be found. And it looks like we may be the first pickers.” The woman responded excitedly.

“I don’t know Yang, this seems sketchy.” The cloaked girl said worriedly.

That’s when another girl in white armor turned around in her seat to face them. “That’s putting it mildly. Remember the last time it seemed too good to be true? Guess what, it was and we almost got killed! How did a UNSC ship of that size even end up out here in such a condition? Last I checked those types of ships are usually either on the front lines or guarding major planets not out here in the sticks.” She warned.

“Why are you always so pessimistic Weiss? Maybe it was a slipspace malfunction or something, you thought about that? I mean we see that sort of thing all the time. The point is that we could sit here and debate all day but we will never know for sure if we don’t go down there and check things out.” Yang retorted.

It was then that the last member of their group which was currently sporting black armor with set of horn like helmet extensions decided to finally join the conversation. “She has a point Weiss. We won’t learn anything if we don’t even go inside. And we can’t just go back empty handed after coming all this way.”

“Et tu Blake, et tu?” The white armored girl known as Weiss retorted dryly.

The black armed girl known as Blake just shrugged before turning towards their red clad captain. “You’re the leader Ruby so it’s your call. What should we do?”

Though Ruby’s face was masked by her helmet through body language along it was clear she was deep in thought. She remained silent for a moment before she reached behind her seat to grab hold of what appeared to be large rifle of some kind and promptly strapped it to her back. “Well you know what they say. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Alright team RWBY lets get in there and see what we can find!” The girl declared cheerfully.

“Yeah I love it when you get feisty sis!” Yang cheered.

The Weiss just let out a loud sigh before pulling out a silver rapier and attaching it to her side. “Fine, however let it be known that I reserve the right to say I told you so.”

“Fine whatever Weiss.” Ruby huffed while turning back to the monitor. “Penny, pull us in close to dock and then copy yourself over to my suit.”

“Roger that Ruby!” The freckled girl responded before the ship began to snake its way around the floating debris littering the area around the Forward onto Dawn and heading towards an opening in the side of the UNSC ship. Once the small ship made it inside it quickly set itself down and deployed landing gear to magnetically lock it in place. Then the girl known as Penny once again appeared on the display before beginning to flicker wildly and splitting in two. One of the fragments vanished as a chip was ejected from the terminal. “Coping complete, now remember not to lose me Ruby. Even though it is only a fragment it will be bad news if anyone gets a hold of it. I don’t want father getting angry with us, again.”

“Don’t worry Penny I always handle with care.” Ruby responded in a teasing tone. Then she quickly extracted the chip and plugged it into a port on the back of her helmet. With that task done she turned back towards her teammates to address them. “Alright move out team!”

Without further ado Ruby and her team disembark form their ship and began floating their way through the halls of the UNSC ship in search of supplies. They were taking their time with the affair so that they wouldn’t miss anything worth taking and so they would be ready for any possible threats that might pop out at them.  
“Man, this whole no gravity thing sucks!” Yang complained before turning towards their leader. “Why don’t we plug Penny in and see if she could get it back online.” She suggested.

This suggestion caused Yang’s teammates to roll their eyes. Yang was always the most gung ho about these types of missions but was also usually the first to complain when things got dull. Of course Yang’s teammates were all quite use to her contradictive behavior at this point so it didn’t really matter much.

After turning the next corner Ruby spotted what seemed to be an undamaged terminal in an open room at the end of the hall. She promptly kicked off the corner wall to float down the hallway and out into the room and her teammates quickly followed suit. “Hold up guys, I will see if I can get the gravity back on.” Ruby said as she pulled the chip carrying the Penny AI out of the back of her helmet and plugged it into an available port on the terminal.

Meanwhile Weiss grabbed onto a wall railing to stabilize herself before turning towards Yang to speak to her. “Gees, do you feel the need to complain about every little thing Yang? I mean really we have been here for what, a few minutes maybe?”

“Hey lay off, I just don’t like zero gravity okay! Hand to hand combat isn’t very effective if there is no weight behind your blows and besides I…” Yang trailed off as her eyes and helmet tilted upward toward the ceiling. “Oh sweet, dibs!” She declared when she spotted a Battle Rifle floating above her head near the ceiling of the room. Weiss just shook her head as Yang began wiggled around helplessly trying to reach weapon before finally realizing she needed to fire her off her suits built in thrusters to gain momentum. She lightly tapped a button on her wrist causing a small sputter from the thrusters allowing her to float up towards the rifle. “Alright come to momma!” She said as she reached out rapped her arms rapped around the weapon. The moment she did the gravity in the room suddenly kicked back on catching her off guard and causing her to plummet down to the floor landing on her ass hard enough to cause her shields to flare. And a moment later the gun fell onto of her head with a thud causing her yelp and grasp at her head in pain. “Ouch! What the hell was that Ruby, bad timing much!?” She roared angrily.

Ruby looked back at her with a slightly panicked expression hidden behind her helmet. “Umm guys I didn’t do that!”

Then Penny’s image appeared above the terminal. “Captain Ruby I have just picked up the activity of another AI in this mainframe! It would seem that we’re not alone on this ship.”

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

A siren now blares throughout the halls of the Forward onto Dawn. Its purpose was to notify the crew of the ship that there were currently intruders on board. A single terminal in the center of the cryogenic chamber is all that responds. It pulses with energy before the image of a purple female AI appears above it. The AI seems panicked and almost unsure how to respond. She presses a few buttons on the digital interface in front of her before turning to face a cryo-pod directly behind her. “Wake up Chief, I need you.” When she says this the cryo-pod begins release jets of steam as it starts to thaw out. As the steam and ice dissipate a large figure inside the pod is revealed. The figure is covered in green power armor that was riddled with battle scares and plasma burns.

A moment later a groan could be heard from the large figure in the pod as it began to stir. The voice was deep and undeniably male. “Chief! Easy, you have been out for a while.” The AI hisses at the man in the pod.

The man seemed confused and disorientated as he began looking around the room through the glass window of the cryo-pod. It was clear he was trying to figure out his current location and how he came to be there. After a moment of this without anything coming to him he finally gave up responded to the AI. “Where are we?” He asked as he started pounding on the glass blocking him from exiting the pod.

“We are still adrift on the Dawn.” The AI responds.

“Why did you wake me?” The man asked.

“Just hang on I’m bringing your systems online now.” The AI told him while pressing more buttons on the digital control panel in front of her. The man shifts around impatiently in his pod while his power armor begins to power up. “I rewrote your suit’s firmware while you were out.” She continues.

“You have been busy.” The man says while his helmets heads up display flickers to life.

“Yeah and now I’m activating the ship’s gravity generators.” The AI states before all the floating objects around the room come crashing down to the ground when gravities pull comes into effect. “Now Chief I need you to look up. That’s the manual release for your pod I will need you to pull that.” She tells the man.

Following the AI’s instruction the man quickly reaches up and slams on the release popping up the glass panel in front of him and allowing him to step out into the room. “Seems like old times.” The AI says as the man makes his way over to her terminal.

“You ready to get back to work?” The man inquires.

“And here I was thinking you would never ask.” The AI says teasingly.

The man almost chuckles before pulling a data chip out of the terminal and plugging it into a port on the back of his helmet. Then he pulled out and readied an assault rife he still had on hand from before he got put under. Pleased that the weapon still seemed to be in working order he figured it was time to get down to business. “Alright, what are my marching orders Cortana?”

“We’ve got intrusion alerts lighting up on multiple decks. Our best bet for figuring out who’s boarding us is the observation deck four floors up.” The AI known as Cortana explains.

“Could it be a rescue team?” The man inquires.

“They don’t seem hostile…yet. So I can’t rule out the possibility, however I am not picking up any UNSC signatures in the area so we will have to proceed with caution alright Chief.” Cortana tells him.

“Roger that Cortana.”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

“I told you so.” Weiss said dryly while releasing another sigh.

“Save it ice queen, we still don’t even know if this AI is friendly or not. Besides it could be all alone and in need of our help.” Yang barked.

“That is unlikely Miss Xiao Long. UNSC AI have always been strictly controlled in order to make sure they wouldn’t fall into enemy hands. The likelihood of one being found alone and undefended is slim to none. Besides the other AI’s most resent activity shows that it has thawed out a cryo-pod before activating the gravity systems. If it was alone there would be no reason for such actions.” Penny interjected.

“Well that’s just great! So what’s the plan sis?” Yang inquired as she turned to face Ruby.

Ruby placed a hand on her chin and began to hum to herself in thought again. “Well if I was them I would probably be heading for the observation deck to get a better view of the situation. So if we want to get to the bottom of this that’s where we need to be heading as well.” She told her team before she removed Penny from the terminal and slotted her chip back into her suits helmet.

“Wait we are heading towards them?! Shouldn’t we be trying to avoid unnecessary contact?” Weiss interjected.

“Weiss it’s like Yang said. We don’t know if they are hostile or not. They could be stranded here and in need of our help. We can’t just leave without knowing anything.” Ruby reasoned.

“Besides even if they are hostile I’m sure we can take them!” Yang declared while cracking her knuckles. “Isn’t that right Blake?” Yang asked the empty space where her black clad teammate should have been. “Umm, Blake where did you go?” Yang asked while looking back and forth for her friend. “Hey have any of you guys seen Blake?”

A sense of panic soon came over the three of them as they realized they were one pointy head short. Ruby quickly pressed a hand to the side of her helmet and began to speak into its built in radio. “Blake, come in! What is your location?! Do you read me?!”

A moment later a burst of static came through the ear piece and the static was mixed with broken words. “I am hav… tr… ble… hearing…ust be som… inter… I am… in… library!” The radio then completely cut out but the last word came in just clear enough for everyone to understand what had happened.

A yellow armored hand promptly came up to palm the face of its own. “Leave it to Blake to pull something like this. Really, I should have known would happen. I seen her get that glint in her eyes when we seen the map of the ship a little ways back. That girl just loves books, a little too much some times.” Yang stated.

“Well nothing we can do about it now but go and get her! Penny, where is the library’s location?!” Ruby shouted into her helmet.

“Sending coordinates to your heads up display now Ruby!” Penny said enthusiastically.

As the coordinates came in Ruby’s face twisted in disbelief. “For the love of $%#^%!”

“Sis what’s wrong!?” Yang inquired in a worried tone. Clearly not use to her sister using such colorful language.

“Guess what’s between us and the library?” Ruby asked he team.

“Let me guess, based on our luck so far it could only be the observation deck. Am I right?” Weiss asked.

Ruby only nodded her head before she pulled out her weapon from behind her back and cocked it. “We have to hurry. If they are an enemy Blake will be in big trouble!”

Both Weiss and Yang nodded in understanding and promptly drew and ready their own weapons. “Yes Captain!” They both said in sync.

“Alright let’s go and get our……. AHHHH!” Ruby began before a surge of bright energy shot through the ship causing all the panels and monitors around them to sputter, flicker, and hiss wildly.

“Penny what the heck was that?!” Ruby shouted.

/////////////////////////////////////////

The man known as Master Chief was now well on his way to the observation deck and was pleased that he has so far not met with any resistance. He was bolting down each corridor with frantic speed and soon found himself in a small room with a holo-graphic display set up in its center. When he entered the room he finally took a moment to take in the condition of the ship around him. “How long have I been out?” He asked Cortana.

“Four years, seven mouths, ten days.” Cortana responded.

The Chief hummed to himself for a moment before speaking once again. “Somebody should have found us by now.” He said right before a massive surge of energy ran through the ship causing the panels and monitors to flicker and hiss violently. “What was that!?” He inquired.

“Censor scan, high intensity! It doesn’t match any known patterns!” Cortana responds in a panicked tone.

“How close are we to the observation deck!?” Chief inquired.

“It’s directly above us!” Cortana responds.

Having his answer Chief rushed out of the room and over to a large set of pressurized steel doors and he forced his hands into the thin crack between the two doors and began to pry them open. For a moment the doors refused to budge but Chief just put more strength into and finally they began to slide apart. However the moment a crack appeared between the doors a vacuum effect was created witch sucked him through the doors and send him flying out into the next section of the ship which seemed to be a shaft of some kind and it was so heavily damaged that it could no longer sustain life. Realizing gravity was still pulling him downward into the unknown Chief grasped onto the wall of the shaft and began to climb up toward the observation deck.

As Chief neared the top of the shaft Cortana called out to him. “Just a little bit more Chief and we will be there… Chief look out!” As Chief reached the top an energy sword wielding Covenant Elite stud over him and prepared to take a swing at him. Chief prepared to counter attack but before their the Chief or the Elite could make a move the sound of vacuum muffled gunfire erupted from behind the Elite causing its shields to flare violently and it to reel back in pain. This Gave Chief the perfect chance to leap up and finish it off with one swift strike to the back of its head with the butt of his assault rifle. With that done he steadied his weapon on the new unfamiliar figure in front of him. A short women in jet black armor with strange ear like extensions on her helmet.

The girl also had her unusually shaped weapon trained on the Chief. It looked almost like the combination of a submachine-gun and a folding katana. It was also connected to a long black strap that was rapped around the girl’s armor. “Who are you? You and him don’t look like your friends so why are you on board this ship? Were you a member of the crew?” The girl asked while motioning towards the downed Elite.

“Funny I was about to ask you the same thing. I am Spartan 117 you can call me Master Chief. As for why I am here, this ship is UNSC property so it only makes since that UNSC personnel would be on board. With that said you don’t look like UNSC or an ONI operative. Are you a rebel perhaps?” Chief responded.

“It’s Blake. And you’re really a Spartan?! I would really like to know what a Spartan is doing all the way out here. It doesn’t really look like this ship has any tactical value anymore so I doubt your guarding it. And you would be partly right about me. I’m not part of the UNSC or ONI but I am not a rebel I assure you. I am just a scavenger trying to get by.”

Chief carefully inspected the girl’s armor and weapons once again. “How did a scavenger come by such high end equipment? Even with bottomless pockets a civilian getting their hands on armor like that would not be an easy task.”

Before the girl could give Chief an answer the voice of Cortana rang out from his helmet. “Chief more hostiles detected!”

With that declaration hanging in the air Blake took pause to evaluate her options before uttering one word. “Truce?”

“Truce.” Chief repeated as he gave the black armored girl a nod. Then he redirected attention towards the observation deck and raised his weapon. “Alright, lets get moving!”

//////////////////////////////

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

“Is that gunfire!?” Ruby yelled as her and her group ran down one of the many corridors leading towards the observation deck.

“That’s not just any gunfire, that’s Blake’s Gamble Shroud I would know it anywhere!” Yang responded.

“We got to hurry!” Ruby declared as the thrusters on her back fired and she began to rapidly accelerate down the corridor and around a corner out of her teammate’s line of sight.

“Ruby, hey wait up!” Weiss screamed after her charging leader but she was already too far ahead to hear her. “Well this is just great! Why is it that no one ever listen to me?!” She roared.

“I think we have bigger problems on our hands Weiss!” Yang said as the armor around her hands shifted and formed as set of large yellow gauntlets. On queue a pair of heavily armored Covenant Hunters dropped down from above the two scavengers with one of them on each side of the corridor leaving them no where to go but through them. Then the Hunter’s lifted their massive shields up in front of them and leveled their glowing green plasma cannons towards the girls.

“Don’t worry Weiss I got your back!” Yang declared.

“I know Yang, trust me I know.” Weiss responds as she draws her silver rapier from her side while spinning the barrel of the weapon causing it to glow with blue energy. Then Yang and Weiss pressed their backs together and readied for a fight.

The Hunters eagerly accepted their challenge with the one facing Yang releasing a plasma blast directly towards the two of them. “I got this!” Yang screamed as she slammed her fists together and charged toward the enemy.


	2. Crash and Burn Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All halo breaks loose. The Covenant are pressing their attack and the gang struggle to regroup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was about half done with I released the first chapter so I wanted to go ahead and get it out there. For those of you who read my other works don't worry more chapters for them are in the works right now.

The Master Chief and his new black clad companion Blake quickly and carefully made their way to the entrance of the observation deck. At this point, both of their motion sensors were going wild with red blips dancing across their heads up displays.

Blake had to actually take pause when she realized just how many hostiles had gathered here and reconsider her direct approach. However, one glance at her far larger companion made it clear that stealth wasn’t likely to work out and it was best they stick together.

Master Chief must’ve noticed Blake’s uncertainty and gave her a few quick hand signs to show his intentions. He wanted them to flank around the right side. Blake tilted her head to the side slightly and stared up at the Chief. Suddenly the Chief felt a bit silly when he considered the fact that whoever his companion was, she was clearly not military, and may not know the hand signs. However he was pleasantly surprised when the girl simply gave him a nod of agreement and readied her weapon.

Now with the formalities out of the way, Blake and the Chief stormed into the room, instantly spotting several dozen Covenant Grunts and their Elite handlers wondering around as if in search of something. Hearing them enter, the Covenant forces turned towards them and were momentarily stunned when they suddenly found themselves under attack. It was clear they weren't expecting resistance here and both the Chief and Blake were more than happy to take advantage of their confusion.

Chief was the first to open fire, his assault rifle bucking wildly as it spit a hail of lead that instantly shredding a few panicked Grunts and punching through the energy shields of the Elite leading them leaving him wounded, but alive. The Elite roared in anger as it rolled out of the Chief's line of fire and dunked into some nearby cover. Then it began to bark orders for the remaining Grunts to follow.

Hearing their handlers call, all the Grunts began to charge at the Chief with reckless abandon with each taking a few pot shots with their plasma pistols. The Chief was undeterred and made to return the charge while unloading half his clip into the mass of pint-sized aliens. Watching his comrades drop all around him, the last of the Grunts turned to flee screaming the word Demon over and over again until finally the butt of Master Chief’s gun met the back of its head caving in its skull.

Then as the Grunt fell, the Chief spun in place to refocus on where he expected the Elite to be hiding only to find nothing. Elites were not known to run from a fight so that meant the Covenant warrior should still be nearby. He was proven right a moment later when Cortana screamed a warning inside his helmet. "Chief at three-o-clock!"

“I hear him.” Chief said as he spun toward the source of a familiar hissing sound. It was the hiss a Covenant energy sword made when it was deployed.

The Chief saw the twin plasma blades of the energy sword coming towards him and they seemed to be suspended in midair. The Chief knew better however and he opened fire at the empty space below the sword and it began to shimmer as the form of the Elite came into view and quickly faded as the rounds pierced its shielding and shredded the flesh behind them. After what was left of the Elite collapsed on the floor Chief looked at his ammo indicator and clicked his teeth when he saw the twin zeros flashing red across the screen.

"That was a close call Chief." Cortana stated. “Don’t tell me a little sleep has made you rusty?” She asked in a tone that suggested she was only half joking.

"I know. I’m just shaking off the cobwebs. I will be more careful from now on." Chief said as he pulled the spent clip from the chamber of his rifle and slammed a new one it its place with a satisfying click. He then quickly rounded the corner to check up on his black clad companion.

Blake came into view a moment later, just in time for the Chief to see her locked in a fierce melee with another Covenant Elite. Even in her full battle armor Blake stood at least a head shorter than the Elite, but she didn’t seem intimidated by that fact.

Blake was skillfully weaving around her opponent while he tried to cut her down with his energy sword. During one of her opponent’s wider swings Blake dodged underneath the blade and sprang forward using a bladed weapon of her own to take a slice out of the Elite’s side.

The Elite didn’t seem to take kindly to being cut open and began swinging its energy sword with renewed vigor and he began to grow visibly more and more furious each time he struck air. And while the Elite continued his assault so too did Blake, only with a bit more success as each swing of her blade carved another chunk of her opponent’s skin or armor clean off. The slight shimmer each time the blade made contact indicated that it was some sort of heated blade.

Realizing the exchange wasn’t going in his favor, the Elite broke away and bounded backward going into a roll and throwing himself behind some cover. Meanwhile Blake flipped a switch on her blade causing the odd weapon’s blade to retract before shifting into something that resembled a sub-machinegun and without missing a beat, she unload on her opponent’s new location.

Blake continued to fire until her clip bottomed out and the moment she stopped to reload the Elite broke from cover and made a grab for a Fuelrod Cannon that had belonged to one of his fallen companions. Snatching the weapon up and hosting it over his shoulder he let loose a volley of green tinted plasma blasts aimed right for Blake’s face.

Blake luckily saw the green balls of death coming and back-flipped allowing the first blast to pass over her. Then she rolled to the right to avoid a second shot while the third went wide missing her entirely.

By this time however, Master Chief was already charging towards the Elite with his rifle leveled towards the Elite and discharging rounds in rapid succession. The Elite’s shield met the rounds first flickering momentarily before being overwhelmed and bursting. The Elite let out a roar and a curse as it tried to find new cover.

The Elite’s roar either by random chance or design signaled a group of Grunts to spring up from the ground where they had been playing possum while more popped out of hiding across the room each with twin plasma grenades at the ready. "They were playing dead!?" Blade yelled as she raised her weapon and began firing into the charging kamikazes.

Chief reacted quickly pulling a large magnum handgun from his waist before taking careful aim and firing a single round into the heads of each of the charging Grunts. Of the six Grunts that had came toward him, four now lay dead on the floor. Meanwhile, one of the last two remaining Grunts managed to throw one of his grenades at him just before catching a bullet of his own and dropping to the ground.

Chief changed targets aiming up and fired a round straight into center of the grenade. The impact managed to make the explosive discharge before it could reach him, but it was still too close. The blast caused his shields to flare up and he was nearly blown off of his feet, but managed to stay up on one knee.

"Get up Chief!" Cortana demanded as the last Grunt jumped at him with two active grenades in hand. Chief tried, but before he could get to his feet the blade of his companion's weapon planted itself in the Grunt’s back and black cloth attached to the blade pulled taught ripping the Grunt away. Blake then slammed the Grunt into another that had been charging at herself. It was then that the grenades finally went off blowing both aliens to purple bits and sending Blake's weapon flying back into her hand somehow without a scratch.

Blake then began to glance around the room, her eyes scanning for more hostiles that might be laying in wait. When she saw nothing her eyes were drawn back towards the Chief who was now back up on his feet and doing the same as her. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Just fine,” The Chief replied curtly before adding. “That was fairly impressive work by the way.”

“Oh, is that compliment?” Cortana asked inside the Chief’s helmet. The Chief ignored the jab.

"Same to you, I guess you Spartans really do live up to the hype." Blake replied, her tone giving nothing away, but behind her helmet a small smile had begun to take over her features. However the smile faded as quickly as it came when she felt a sudden chill run down her spine.

The Chief must have noticed as well because he quickly raised his rifle and shouted out a warning. "Behind you!"

Blake was already in motion, spinning on her heels to see a formless blur scrambling towards and the menacing shimmer of an energy sword materializing from the void. Blake made to dodge, but the blur seemed to be faster and thrust its blade straight through her chest.

"No!" Chief called out.

The cloaked Elite having just dealt a mortal blow to his opponent let out a roar or satisfaction, but fell silent when his victim began to flicker like a broken display screen right before dissolving completely. The Elite was startled and tried to jump back, but was cut off when Blake reappeared behind the Covenant warrior. She then returned the alien’s favor by planting her sword deep into his back until the tip of the blade popped out his chest. The Elite gasped in horror, but he was quickly silenced when Blake twisted the blade and in one fluid motion, she lifting him up off the ground and tossed his limp body over her shoulders and into a heap of dead Grunts.

"What was that?" Chief inquired.

"It was a holographic projection I believe. If I am correct, the girl created it just before the Elite launched his attack. It must’ve taken her place and while she activated her own cloaking device allowing her to land a sneak attack." Cortana responded through the Chief’s speakers allowing Blake to overhear. “It was a rather clever ploy.” Master Chief glanced at Blake for confirmation and she gave him a quick nod in agreement.

"Well, it at least looks like we’re done here. Where to now Cortana?" Chief asked into his helmet.

"I am not sure to be honest. I think it's safe to assume that the Covenant here is going to keep attacking us. They don't seem well equipped though, so it doesn't appear that they are military. Possibly scavengers much like our new friend here. I would suggest taking a look outside, at least then we might be able to see what we’re up against.” Cortana suggested before adding. “Hopefully we’re just dealing with a small scouting party."

"Well it seems like as good a plan as any." Blake said before she turned and made for a nearby control panel, taking only a few seconds to familiarize herself with it, she started pressing buttons. A moment later and the metal shutters that were covering the external windows began to rise. Much to Blake’s horror, the windows revealed several large Covenant combat vessels surrounding the Dawn with at least two boarding ships currently inbound to their location.

"Oh." Blake mumbled as she slowly stepped back from the windows.

"Or we could be up against an entire Covenant fleet!" Cortana blurted.

"This is bad, very bad! I have to tell the others!" Blake yelled in a panic as she reached one hand up to touch her helmets com unit. "Ruby, Weiss, Yang, this is Blake do you read me!?”

Then the voice of Ruby practically erupted from the speakers in Blake’s helmet. “Blake is that you?!” she cried out. “Are you okay!? What is happening over there!?”

“Listen there isn’t much time to explain, but the Covenant just showed up! There’s way too many of them and we need to get out of here right now! I repeat we need to get out of here!" Blake replied.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

"How much further till we reach the observation deck Penny?!" Ruby asked into her helmet as she stormed through the corridors at a breakneck speed.

"We’re closing in Ruby! It’s about three-hundred more meters straight ahead and at our current pace we should arrive in forty-two seconds." Penny replied before adding. “Would you like me to set a waypoint?”

“Yes please!” Ruby shouted before asking. "Are there any hostiles?!"

"My motion and heat sensors indicate that there is several! I shall send the data to your heads up display now. I am also picking up an incoming radio transmission from Blake, shall I patch it through?" Penny inquired.

"Thank you and yes of course put it through!" Ruby replied.

A moment later and another burst of static came through her intercom, she heard Blake begin to shout in a panicked voice. "Ruby, Wiess, Ya *static hiss* This is Bla *static hiss* read me!”

“Blake is that you?!” Ruby cried out. “Are you okay!? What is happening over there!?”

“Listen, *static hiss* time to *static hiss* the Covenant just showed up! *static hiss* too many of them *static hiss* get out of *static hiss* now! I repeat we need to get out *static hiss*!" Blake shouted before the signal cut out.

“We appear to be experiencing some interference.” Penny declared. “I could attempt to decipher the transmission?”

"I got the gist, Blake's in trouble, and I have to go help her right now!” Ruby declared before her right hand swept over her left gauntlet and hitting a few small buttons. “Dust overdrive!" She roared as several parts of her armor began to admit a bright violet red glow and all the thrusters connected to the back of her suit fired at full intensity. A moment later and she vanished down the hallway in a blur of red.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

Yang slammed her armored fists together in what at first glance just seemed like a way for her to pump herself up for the fight ahead, but in actuality it was just an easy way to engage her primary weapon. Her weapon, also known as the Ember Celica was a set of golden gauntlets with the capacity to discharge dust loaded buckshot. While they were nifty in close corridors like these, just like a standard shotgun they required her get fairly close to truly be effective. Thus she held her fire and her eyes carefully tracked the lone Hunter that was lumbering toward her from down the corridor. It was clear they had her in their sights as well since one let out something akin to a battlecry before it fired off a blast from its arm mounted plasma cannon.

Yang saw her opening and dunked low before rushing forward. Cocking her right fist back like she was preparing to throw a right hook, she swung out. When she did, her gauntlet bucked. Its small muzzle flashing as an incendiary slug shot forth directly into the ball of glowing green energy. The moment the round and the plasma ball met, there was a loud pop followed by a fiery discharge sending green and red flames spewing in every direction like a firework.

Yang then as the barrel of her right gauntlet spun to load in a new round she cocked back her left hand, making sure it was pointed towards one of her foes before firing off another shot. The Hunter reacted surprisingly quick, hoisting its heavy duty shield up and holding it between them causing the round to bounce off harmlessly. However, that was what Yang was counting on. With the Hunter distracted she turned both her gauntlets backward before engaging a set of small thrusters on their sides. A moment later and both her weapons bucked propelling her forward through the fiery haze and towards her opponents.

This wasn't the first time Yang had tangled with the Covenant but she new all too well that they weren't to be underestimated. The Hunters especially, while they may have basically been a fleshy sack of worms wrapped in armor, they were still one of the nastiest warriors in the Covenant’s ranks. Their bodies were large and covered from head to toe in super thick armor plating. Even what few openings their armor had, they were normally protected with an even thicker arm mounted shield.

So their defenses were quite impressive to say the least, but their offensive power was what most had come to fear and for good reason. Their bodies were huge and they had the strength to match their size. She had seen many others killed by a single strike of their shield and their plasma cannons were powerful enough to flip a Warthog in one shot. With all that in mind, she knew she would have to avoid both if she was going to beat this thing.

The Hunter noticed Yang fast approaching and jumped back as it raised its cannon and began firing blast after blast at Yang's feet. Yang acted just as quickly and each time her opponent fired a shot she would propel herself in another direction using her gauntlets. Before long she had closed the distance and was ready to put her opponent down.

"You’re all mine ugly!" Yang roared as she closed in on the hulking mass, but the Hunger was more than eager to face the brawler head on. It stepped forward and took a wide horizontal swing with its shield likely trying to smash Yang against the wall. Yang dropped down and slid underneath of it before she fired the thrusters on the back of her gauntlets once more to propel her back up onto her feet, but they didn’t stop there. Her fists kept going. Propelled by their thrusters they drove themselves into an opening in the creature's armor right below its chest plate.

The Hunter roared in fury as Yang's fists went straight through the creature’s fleshy frame and buried themselves in what most would think to be its stomach. Once her fists were there, Yang fired another slug from each gauntlet at the same time. Instantly the creature's chest exploded outward forcing her hands back out of the new burning cavity.

In her hands Yang now gripped several worm like creatures each scrumming and hissing violently. "Gross, I hate these things!" Yang said as she tightened her grip crushing the worms. "Ahhh!” Yang screamed as she was forced to leap backward to avoid the hunter's backswing. For a moment Yang was surprised that her opponent was even still standing, let alone able to keep fighting, but she supposed she shouldn’t be.

Hunter bodies are made up entirely of worms. For some reason they tend to create a symbiotic relationship with each other and form these bulky creatures. Yang didn't know the reasoning behind their behavior, but she knew that in order to kill them you had to kill as many worms as possible. Once their numbers dropped low enough, they would no longer be able to support the bulky form, and it would collapse. At least in that regard she was off to a good start.

The Hunter was clearly disorientated. It was gripping the burning hole in its chest with its plasma cannon arm and swinging its shield wildly with the other, but didn’t seem to be aiming at anything in particular. Yang decided to stay clear of that, instead trying to take a few pot shots at it while she could. The Hunter’s weakness didn’t last for long though, after only a few seconds the worms in its gut seemed to settle in and it steadied itself. Now focused on Yang once more it readied its shield and began to charge forward with intent to ram her.

"That's right come to mama.” Yang taunted as she ran a hand over a few buttons on her suit. “Activating dust overdrive!" She declared before she once again slammed her fists together. A moment later and Yang’s suit lit up with bright glowing lines of gold appeared along the gaps in her armor plating.

Yang then got into a low defensive stance and waited for the creature to barrel into her. "No you don't!" She shouted as she raised her arms to push back against the Hunter and somehow stopping the far larger enemy in its tracks.

The Hunter grumbled in confusion as it struggled against Yang’s strength, but it was still getting pushed backward. The Hunter became enraged and pulled its shield away casing Yang to stagger slightly and then it tried to take a swing at the girl, but Yang raised her gauntlets up before her face and blocked the attack without even moving an inch. That made the Covenant warrior even more angry and it raised its plasma cannon in an attempt to get a shot off.

"Sorry that's a nope big guy!" Yang declared before she rushed in punching the plasma cannon away. “Now it’s my turn!” She roared as she took aim at the Hunter’s face. As the blow connected, Yang discharged another round from her weapon causing the Hunter’s helmet to fracture. The Hunter reeled back from the blow, falling down onto the ground before Yang leapt on him, delivering another series of fiery slugs into its chest. The armor took the first few easily enough, but after about the fourth slug exploded in its chest, the armor caved, and the frame of the creature broke apart. The worms that had made up its form were sent scattering in every direction.

Yang stood up, taking a deep breath, and wiping off the wormy goo from her suit. A moment later and her armor’s glow dulled and faded. She was grateful that it was over. She didn't like using so much of her armor’s energy like that. At least not when her and her team was so far out and only had so much dust to keep their suits powered. She knew it couldn’t be helped. She wanted to finish the fight quickly in order to aid her teammates, who were still very much in trouble. At least if Blake’s SOS was to be believed.

Wanting not to waste anymore time Yang then glanced over to see how her teammate Weiss was fairing so far. She hadn’t been far behind her and had a Hunter of her own to contend with. Luckily the white clad girl was faring as well as Yang would’ve expected. She was gracefully weaving around the slower Hunter’s attacks while trying to remain close enough to avoid its plasma cannon.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

Weiss had activated a pair of thrusters on the bottom of her armored boots causing her to hover just slightly off the ground and glide around as if she were skating on ice. With each swing the Hunter took at her, she would simply glide under or twirl around the blow before driving the tip of her glowing rapier sword into an opening in her opponent’s armor.

While the blade was glowing, it was clear it wasn’t the same kind of glow you would expect from a heated blade like the one Blake used. A fact that became very clear the moment her steel met her opponent’s flesh. On impact the rapier released a blast of liquid nitrogen flash freezing the flesh and making it brittle. After awhile of this exchange, the Hunter was visibly beginning to slow as its joins began to lock up on it.

Finally the Hunter stumbled backward and looked like it was about to topple, but instead it let out one more roar of defiance before charging at the white clad warrior dead set on crushing her underfoot. Knowing her strength wouldn’t be enough to take the Hunter head-on Weiss activated her thruster boots once more to jump over the beast’s attack and landing on top of its shield and delivering another blow into the joint of the arm supporting the defensive weapon.

The Hunter screeched and shook to throw Weiss off, sending her gliding backward and landing just over the ground before him. The Hunter awkwardly began the lumber forward, its mass stiff with ice, and it tried to take another swing at Weiss, but her weapon suddenly changed color. Now it had a red glow and she thrust forward striking the Hunter in the same join she had struck before breaking his arm clean off. The hunter roared in anger and raised its plasma cannon to take a shot, but before it could fire, Weiss switched directions and thrust right through his chest causing his whole body to crumble to pieces and sending worms scattering in every direction.

"Wow you really iced that guy, Weiss!" Yang said while chuckling to herself.

"Shut up, Yang." Weiss retorted as she clicked her boots together, causing the thrusters to cut off. Once back on solid ground she flicked her weapon to rid it of alien remains before placing it back at her side.

"Oh why are you so cold to me Weiss?!” Yang shot back.

"That's enough already Yang!” Weiss snapped. “This is no time for your puns, we have more important things to be doing. You know, like saving our friends?"

“Right sorry, you’re right.” Yang admitted as she began to scratch the back of her neck. The act was more out of habit than anything else since she couldn’t actually scratch anything through her armor. “So what do you think we should do now?”

Weiss looked like she was about to reply, but was interrupted by a sudden transmission from her missing teammates. While she couldn’t make out much of what was said, she could clearly hear Blake and Ruby conversing, and saying something about more Covenant forces. That at least meant that both of her teammates were alive, but with the Covenant involved that could change very quickly. With that in mind, haste would be highly advised moving forward.

"Hey that sounded like Blake and Ruby and it sounds like their in trouble!" Yang shouted.

"Thank you captain obvious," Weiss deadpanned. “Let’s get going before those two get themselves killed.” She suggested and Yang gave a nod of agreement, before the pair rushed down the hallway.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

A pair of boarding-ships pierced the hall of the observation deck while Chief and Blake took up defense positions. "Blake, here take these!" Chief declared as he chucked his black clad companion a couple of fragmentation grenades before grabbing another pair for himself.

Blake gave a nod as she plucked them out of the air and immediately began pulling their pins off. Blake held them for a moment longer allowing them to cook while the Covenant poured out of their ships. Satisfied Blake and the Chief both hurled their explosives into the center of the invader’s ranks. Roars of surprise followed before being lost in the deafening blast.

The surviving Covenant tired to make a break for cover, but most of them were also cut down when Blake and the Chief burst from cover and opened fire. After Black caught one of the few remaining Elites between the eyes causing it to crumble onto the floor, she crouched back down to reload her weapon and say. “Well this is more manageable than I thought.”

“More incoming though.” The Chief pointed out while motioning towards the enemy fleet and several more boarding ships that were heading their way.

"Yeah, doesn’t look like we’ll be able to keep this up forever!” Blake agreed. “We need to get off of this ship and fast!"

"Agreed, do you have an exit strategy!?" Chief asked as he laid down some suppressive fire.

"Yes,” Blake replied. “Our ship is capable of slipspace travel and it is docked onboard this vessel. If we get to the ship, we can jump right out of here, but we’ll need to find my teammates first!"

"How many of you are there?" Chief inquired.

"Counting myself there is only four of us. They’re also just as capable in a fight, if not more so, so we’ll just need to regroup with them and then we’re good to go!" She declared, earning a nod from the Chief before they both jumped from cover to finish off the last few Covenant warriors on the observation deck.

With the immediate threat dispatched Blake and the Chief took a second to loot a few plasma grenades off their fallen foes, but were interrupted by a loud rumbling sound. Turning towards the source of the loud noise, they raised their guns and readied themselves for another fight.

The noise was coming from behind a heavy blast door that lead out into the corridor. The same one Blake had past through before on her way here. The door was then blown away, likely smashed in by an especially heavy impact, and a red armored girl appeared from behind it. One that Blake instantly recognized. “Ruby!?” She shouted.

The red armored figure looked up towards Blake and shouted in reply. "Blake, thank goodness you’re still okay! I’ve come to rescue you!" She declared, somehow sounding panicked and relieved at the same time. Then she drew up a rather oversized crimson red rifle from her back and began scanning the room for a target before settling on the larger unfamiliar man in green armor. "Who are you!? What do you want with Blake!?"

"Its cool Ruby he's friendly!” Blake shouted while waving her arms to get her leaders attention. “Besides we have bigger problems on our hands!"

"Oh sorry, my bad.” Ruby said before lowering her weapon. “So what other problems are we dealing with!?" Ruby asked and Blake sighed before pointing straight behind her. Ruby turned to see a horde of Covenant forced charging towards her with plasma weapons drawn. "Oh I guess they must’ve seen me, oops.” She said with a nervous chuckle.

“Big oops.” Blake deadpanned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading I would love to here your thoughts on this chapter.


	3. Crash and Burn Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chief and the girls are well on their way to escape but what will they do when disaster strikes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What another chapter so soon? Well I am having fun with this one lol. It also seems like its being very well revived and I live to please. Yet again don't worry if you are a fan of my other works I still have them in development.

Gunfire echoed down the halls of the Forward onto Dawn as the observation deck was transformed into a battlefield. Covenant rushed in from every direction while the Chief, Ruby, and Blake tried desperately to hold them at bay.

"This is endless!" Blake shouted after she emptied another clip of her increasingly limited ammunition into the enemy lines. Then when she reached for another clip and realized she was completely out, she couldn’t bring herself to stifle the groan that came a moment later. "Oh that's just great! This couldn't possibly get any worse!"

"I'm so sorry Blake! This is all my fault, god why am I such an idiot!" Ruby apologized as she fired several rounds of her rifle, each one striking home and dropping either an enemy Grunt or Jackal. "With that said, you shouldn't say something like it can't get worse! You know that could end up jinxing us!"

Then almost on queue the voice of Penny, team RWBY’s AI companion came over their intercoms. "Attention friends, there’s currently two more Covenant boarding ships heading this way!" She warned.

“See!” Ruby shouted.

"What, there is still more of them!?" Blake hissed before turning towards the Chief. "This isn't going to work! We need to make a run for it if we want to stand a chance!"

The Chief seemed to agree since he gave a quick nod before speaking into his helmet. "Cortana we need an escape route yesterday!"

"Already working on it Chief!" Cortana responded and a moment later a way marker appeared on the Chief’s heads up display. "Motion sensors detect minimal hostiles in the shaft we came in through on our way here. If we use that to drop down to one of the lower levels we should be able to slip right past the Covenant."

“Roger,” The Chief said before looking towards Ruby and Blake. “You catch that?”

“Yes, sounds like a good idea.” Blake replied before addressing her leader. “Ruby?”

"That sounds reasonable to me.” Ruby answered. “What do you think Penny?"

"My sensors also indicate minimal threats in that direction, so I think it is a sensational plan Ruby!" Penny replied excitedly.

"Good, then that’s the plan. All we need now is Weiss and my sister! Penny any idea where they are!?" Ruby asked.

"They’re in between our location and the ship. I’ve already notified them to hold their positions until we arrive. Sending destination beacons to your heads up display now." Penny replied before arrows appeared in their field of vision. There were two blue arrows marking their teammate's locations and one grey arrow marking where their ship was docked.

"Alright team, let’s move out!" Ruby shouted before she flipped a small switch on the side of her rifle, causing it unfold and extend into something akin to a scythe.

Ruby then crouched low and fired the thrusters on her back, propelling her body towards the far end of the room. Blake and the Chief followed soon after, Blake making use of her suit’s cloaking device to try and avoid attention.

Before the group could make their exit, a pair of Elites quickly moved in to block their path. Both Covenant warriors were armed with a pair of Needlers, one in each hand. Their glowing violet quills promising a painful demise to anyone caught out by them.

“Get out of our way, or else!” Ruby threatened as she continued her charge.

The Elites chuckled to themselves, clearly unimpressed by their opponent’s attempt at intimidation. Then they raised their weapons and they began to hiss as they spat four streams of violet energy needles each directed straight at the red clad warrior. Ruby dunked back while raising her weapon so that it was facing sideways before activating a set of small thrusters on each end of the rifle-scythe. When the thrusters fired it caused her body to begin spinning in her hands allowing her to deflect and/or shatter every single incoming quill.

Then once her enemy’s weapons were spent, Ruby aimed her weapon backward before turning up the thrusters once. She was propelled forward at rapid speed and when she added her suits thrusters on top of that, she became a blur of red steel.

The Elites saw Ruby coming, but were still reloading and only had time to flinch before she zoomed past them, hooking her weapon around one of their necks as she went. She then reversed thrust on her suit, spun in place, and fired the thrusters of her weapon again forcing the blade of her scythe right through the Elites neck thus removing it from its shoulders in a spray of blue blood.

The second Elite now very alarmed and with primed weapons, tried to take aim at Ruby. Ruby was faster however and used the momentum of her last attack to twirl her body and launch herself forward, thrusting her scythe blade straight into the Elite’s chest, impaling it.

The impaled Elite cried out in a mix of horror and pain, and somewhere in his distorted death thralls must have been an order or two since a moment later a group of Grunts broke from their positions to charge toward Ruby. Each Grunt was armed with a set of two plasma grenades, one in each hand, and they had a maddened look in their eyes.

"Ruby, what out!" Blake warned as her and the Chief began to rake their weapons across the approaching enemy’s position, taking out several Grunts in the process. There were still more kamikaze coming however, so Ruby spun around with the Elite still impaled on her weapon and she flung his limp body into the charging Grunts, knocking them to the ground.

As the Grunts fell, they lost their grip on their plasma grenades sending them clattering onto the deck near their feet. Unfortunately for them, the explosives were already armed and went off a moment later, killing the whole group and sending meaty chunks flying in all directions. Ruby yelped as she went into a slide just barely avoiding the raining gore before pressing onward into the Dawn’s winding corridors.

Meanwhile Blake swooped in close behind her, snatching up one of the few plasma grenades that had managed to survive the carnage. Then she took aim at an energy sword wielding Elite coming down the corridor towards their right in an attempt to flank them. She smirked under her mask as she pressed the activation switch on the grenade causing it to hiss, before letting it fly.

Blake’s aim was true and the plasma grenade struck the Elite square in the chest, sticking it in place. Noticing the soft impact, the Elite stopped in place for a moment, looked down to see the hissing explosive, and then let out a defiant roar before charging forward with reckless abandon.

Luckily the Elite’s moment of pause was more than enough for Blake to roll on the ground and pick up a pair discarded Needlers and promptly open fire on the Elite. The Elite didn’t try to evade instead allowing its energy shield to take the blow. The Elite’s shields flickered wildly as each needle struck and bounded off of them before finally the shields failed and a half dozen needles punched through. The quills cut through armor, flesh, and bone, planting themselves firmly into the Elite’s limbs and torso.

The Elite wailed as it toppled over grasping at one of its on wounds with one hand while the other discarded its sword in an attempt to rip the plasma grenade free from his chest. Both efforts proved futile as the grenade finally detonated sending not only Elite chunks flying, but a deadly spray of energy needles flying in every direction, striking and killing several nearby Grunts and Jackals.

The Chief was the last out of the observation deck, busying himself by offering suppressing fire on the Covenant forces that just unloaded from a new pair of boarding ships. Once he was sure his allies had cleared the path ahead, he tossed a frag grenade into the enemy mass before turning away and making a mad dash to catch up to Ruby and Blake who were about to enter the shaft he had leading down to the lower levels.

When the Chief caught up he found that his allies had both come to a stop. Both were staring down into the huge dark shaft that was still venting air. While he couldn’t read their expressions through their helmets, he could see their unease in their body language. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

“The hull must be breached, we’ll need to be careful or we’ll be sucked into space.” Ruby replied.

The Chief gave a nod of understanding, before asking. "Can the two of you handle that climb?”

“Should I find us another route?” Cortana offers.

Ruby and Blake looked at each other before glancing back at the Covenant chasing after them. Their choice was clear. "There is no time! Blake I need you to give me Gamble Shroud, I have a plan!" Ruby declared.

Blake tilted her head slightly to show that she didn’t quite see where this was going, but didn’t seem in the mood to argue. "Alright, but just so you know it's all out of ammo!" She warned as she offered her weapon over to her leader.

"Not a problem, just do me a favor! When I say the word, I want you to fire your weapons rear mounted thrusters." Ruby replied as she grabbed hold of Gamble Shroud. She then took aim at the far wall and threw it as hard as she could while making sure to keep a firm hold of its carbon fiber strap. “Now!” She shouted right as the weapon was about to be sucked into rushing air current. Blake did as instructed, pressing a button on her wrist and causing the weapon to spring forward like a rocket to smack against the far wall before getting wrapped up around a large iron pipe.

Ruby gave the strap a good tug to make sure it was secure. Then wrapped it around herself before offering a arm to each of her companions. "Alright guys, you better hold on tight!" She declared.

Realizing what their red clad companion’s plan was, Blake and the Chief shared a look, and Blake gave a shrug before compiling with her leader’s orders. The Chief gave a nod in return before clamping onto the small girl’s side with enough strength to get a squeak out of her. Ruby didn’t complain however, instead she took a step back before leaping headlong into the shaft sending the three of them into free fall.

The group continued to tumble, pulled down by the harsh suction of the vacuum until the carbon fiber strap pulled taut and they were left hanging. Ruby then kicked off the wall and fired her own thrusters, sending them swinging back across the gap and straight through an open door a few levels below the one they had entered the shaft from.

Ruby then gave Gamble Shroud’s strap a good tug, casing the weapon to dislodge from the piping and practically fly back into her hands. "Thanks a bunch, Blake!" She said happily as she handed the weapon back to its proper owner.

"Your welcome Ruby, now let's go find our friends and get out of here!" Blake responded before she heard a muffled roar echo from a few floors above them. “Preferably before they catch up!” She added before the three of them booked it down the corridor.

/////////////////////////////////////////////

Elsewhere on the Dawn a lone Sangheili (Elite) crept down one of many corridors, making sure to stay low, and listening as distant cries of his brothers echoed through the halls. Even without the obvious sounds of combat, he could sense something was amiss so he stayed focused. He had his trusty energy sword in hand, already activated, and ready to cut down any heretics that dared to cross his path.

A few paces away, another silently waved to gain his attention. The two drew closer to each other and began to exchange hushed words in their native tongue. In the distance they heard an explosion and the second Sangheili shouldered his plasma rifle before they both turn towards the source of the commotion. Blocking their path is a sealed metal door of standard make. A sturdy door to be sure, but not one designed to hold in real combat.

The sword wielding Sangheili decided to take point and reached for the door control to open it, but he never got a chance. The moment he reached for them another one of their comrades, it was a low ranking Sangheili by the look of it, came flying in to slam against the wall of a connecting hallway just a few feet away. As it staggered back to its feet and tried to pick up the plasma pistol it had dropped, a figure in white armor jumped out from around the corner with blinding quickness, and stabbed the Sangheili straight through the chest with a thin saber like blade.

The Sangheili screamed in agony, his mandibles snapping wildly as if he was gasping for air, and perhaps he was. The blade did look to be wedged around where the lungs would be and it looked like it was emitting a strange white mist. The mist’s purpose quickly became clear when the Sangheili’s movements began to slow, becoming more and more labored with each breath he took until a thin layer of ice appeared on the surface of his armor. Soon enough the mist had frozen him solid.

Now able to see the figure clearly, they realized that it was a human female in white battle armor of an unusual design. At first glance they thought it was the armor of their demons (Spartans) and cold terror gripped them. Almost making the two proud Sangheili flee in disgrace, but then they noticed that something was off about the female.

While the armor the female wore was certainly similar to that of the demons, she was far too small to be one. Most demons stood nearly as tall as the Sangheili, but this one was barely any taller than an Unggoy (Grunt). This realization returned their confidence.

The white armored female must have noticed since she quickly withdrew her sword and stepped away from the frozen heap, spinning the barrel of her weapon as she moved causing the blade to glow red. She then turned toward the two Sangheili warriors before speaking up. “Are you two just going to stand there and watch?” She asked in a challenging tone.

The Sangheili didn’t seem pleased by the display and they both let out a roar of anger. The armored female scoffed as she charged as the sword wielding Sangheili charged in while the second took aim with his rifle. The plasma rifle quickly came to life, releasing bright beams of green plasma energy, each fired with practiced aim.

As the first plasma blast impacted the human’s armor the familiar sheen of an energy shield sprang up to deflect it. Then she burst into action. She swung her weapon wildly, each slash creating a shield of hard-light energy to deflect the rifle fire.

Then the rifle wielding Sangheili took a few steps forward placing himself right in front of the door. This action turned out to be a mistake however as a moment later an explosion erupted from behind it, blowing the door off its frame, and crushing the unsuspecting Sangheili under its weight.

Hearing the blast, the sword wielding Sangheili spun around just in time to see another human female in yellow armor step into view from where the door use to be. Another regrettable misstep since he found a thin red blade poking through his chest a moment later and only darkness followed after that.

////////////////////////////////////////////

“Never take your eyes off the enemy in front of you.” Weiss said as she pulled her blade free from her now fallen foe. Then she turned her attention towards her yellow clad companion. “You couldn’t have done that any sooner, Yang?”

Yang shrugged as she began to speak. “Hey you can’t rush these types of things. If I hadn’t waited for just the right moment, it wouldn’t have been such a ‘crushing’ defeat for them.”

Weiss rolled her eyes behind her helmet and her whole head along with them, just to make sure the effect wasn’t lost on her friend. “Well I see your sense of hummer still leaves much to be desired.”

“Yeah, yeah, you know you love it.” Yang retorted before taking a quick look around and adding. “So anyway, it looks like we cleared out this area, what do we do now?” She asked.

“I guess we just wait for Ruby and Blake to arrive. It’s safer for us to stick together and to not wonder too far.” Weiss replied.

“I guess that’s true,” Yang said with a nod before trailing off slightly and glancing down the corridor. There was something shimmering there. It looked like something was there, but it wasn’t. After taking a second to properly process that thought, Yang’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh, crap! Weiss look out!”

Weiss heard her allies warning, but before she could even turn around to see what the threat was, Yang was already in motion. Pushing her white clad companion aside she leapt forward firing off a few rounds from her gauntlets. Though they were at a fair distance, her shotgun slugs were right on target, but from the simmering void a small round energy shield was deployed to deflect them. Though the fiery discharge did have some effect, it caused the enemies cloaking device to flicker and fail revealing a Covenant Jackal beneath it.

The reveal didn’t allow Yang to breathe easy however. Of course a single Jackal wouldn’t normally be cause for concern, but the small alien was packing some serious heat in the form a fuel rod cannon. The Jackal began to cackle as it fired off a single green plasma round from the cannon aimed directly at his yellow clad enemy.

“Yang, be careful!” Weiss shouted, honest concern clear in her voice.

“Don’t worry Weiss-cream, I got this!” Yang declared before fingering a switch on her suit and shouting. “Dust overdrive!”

After that Yang slammed her fists together and her armor began to glow like the sun once again. Only this time her energy shield began to expand outward like a sponge soaking up water. When the plasma blast finally collided with the yellow clad brawler and erupted in a massive misty green explosion of raw energy.

The Jackal began to howl in joy, but its celebration was quickly cut short as the fiery green mist cleared, and revealed a very much intact Yang Xiao Long. The Jackal then let high pitched screech of disapproval, before he readied another shot.

“Oh no, you don’t buddy!” Yang roared as she lowered her over-shield and sprang forward, aided by the thrusters attached to her gauntlets. In the blink of an eye she had cleared the distance between her and the smaller alien and was now towering over it. The Jackal still tried to fire off a shot, despite it being suicidal at this rang, but Yang countered by delivering an uppercut to the barrel of the fuel rod cannon.

The impact forced the weapon to point upward, but it also caused it to discharge sending a plasma blast straight into the low hanging ceiling above her. Rather than explode on impact like one would expect, instead the plasma bounced back down striking the fuel rod cannon and causing a chain reaction that set off all of its remaining ammunition. A heartbeat later and the weapon erupted in blast three times larger than the one from a moment before and both Yang and the Jackal were quickly enveloped in it.

“Yang, no!” Weiss screamed as she watched her friend disappear in the fiery green mist.

////////////////////////////////////////////

The Chief along with Ruby and Blake had now made their way down a few corridors and were nearing their objective. They hadn’t met any more opposition since they left the observation deck, but the Chief stayed vigilant. Making sure to keep an eye out for any possible threats and remaining mostly silent. His silence was not only meant to hide their presence, but also to better allow them to hear enemies coming.

The silence was only broken when Cortana spoke to him through his helmet. "Hey Chief, is something bothering you? You're even less talkative than normal today and you haven’t said a word to me in three years."

The Chief let out a light chuckle before he clicked a switch on his helmet blocking the sound of his voice from escaping. "It has been awhile since I fought with a team. These girls are something else. Their daring and I’ve met ODST with less fight in them. It almost feels like I'm with Blue Team again."

Hearing this Cortana hummed in thought before replying. "It has also been awhile since you mentioned Blue Team. I guess with all we’ve been through lately we haven't had the time to reminisce.” John’s posture slouched slightly, but he didn’t break his stride. “You still miss them don’t you John? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No need.” The Chief said while shaking his head. “We don’t have the time right now and I know we’ll all meet again, I can feel it."

The Chief could practically hear the smile in Cortana’s voice. “I know John, I can feel it too.”

With their conversion finished, the Chief turned back on his external speaker, and followed his allies down another hallway only to come to a sudden halt. His allies had spotted a group Covenant up ahead, a few Grunts and Elites by the look of it, but something was a bit off. While many of them were still standing, none of them were moving. Ruby and Blake stopped to check the bodies and upon closer inspection they found that they were all dead. Half of them had been frozen solid while the other half were laid out on the floor and covered in scorch marks.

"Yep this is without a doubt my sister’s handy work, we are getting close." Ruby said.

“Hard to notice Weiss’ artistic style,” Blake began before glancing up at the face of one of the Elites, its expression frozen in horror. “Though, the subject matter leaves much to be desired.”

The moment Blake finished speaking an explosion echoed down the hallway form the direction they had been heading. "That's got to be them, let’s go!" Ruby declared before breaking into a sprint once again.

When Ruby and the group rounded the next corner, a pair of armored figures came into view, one white the other yellow. The Yang was laying flat on the floor, her armor covered in dents and scorch marks, while Weiss was crouched at her side. Held in Weiss’ hand, was a small device that was emitting an almost otherworldly green glow that encircled the body of her fallen friend.

What Weiss was using was a type of medical tool that was designed to release nanobots into the body of the wounded to help speed up the healing process. Seeing the sight of Yang’s battered form caused both Blake and Ruby to gasp in horror before rushing over.

"Yang, are you okay! Yang!" Ruby screamed as she dropped down at sister's side.

Weiss looked over just in time to see their red cloaked leader practically falling on top of her patient and Blake coming up behind her. "Ruby, Blake, about time you guys got here!"

"Weiss, what happened!? Is Yang okay?!" Ruby inquired in a desperate tone.

Weiss sighed and deactivated the healing device and placing in a holster at her side. Then she sat up to dust herself off and motioned for Ruby to do the same. Ruby did, if only reluctantly. "Calm down Ruby, she isn't dead, and I’ve already taken all the necessary steps to make sure she stays that way.”

“Really!?” Ruby asked, sounding less than convinced.

Weiss gave a nod. “Yes Ruby, I’ve already given her both a nano and biofoam injection, and her vitals are steady.” Ruby still looked a bit skeptical so Weiss decided on a different tactic. “Penny, you’re monitoring Yang’s vitals as well right? Do you agree with my assessment?”

Having been called upon, the voice of Penny instantly echoed from each of the girl’s helmets. “Yes, all my readings indicate that Yang’s life is not currently in danger. Though, I am picking up some odd readings from her suit. This is possibly due to equipment failure, I will run a diagnostics check to discover the cause. In the meantime I advise you perform a maintenance check once you’ve all returned to the Zwei.”

"Thank goodness." Ruby said as she let out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding.

“So what happened?” Blake inquired while looking down at her injured companion. “This is a lot of damage.

“Well, the long and the short of it is that a Covenant fuel rod cannon self-destructed in her face. Luckily she was able to shield herself from most of the blast, but she was pushing her suit too hard. She’d already used up most of her dust supply so when she took that hit, her shields overloaded and gave out.” Weiss explained.

“Yeah, that sounds like her.” Blake said as she shook her head.

"Gees Blake, I can really feel the love." Yang groaned out as she came to, drawing everyone’s attention towards her once again. Then she slowly tried to sit herself up, only cringed with pain, and grasped her side.

“Yang you’re awake!” Ruby declared happily.

“Yep, I’m awake. Though, we might have a little problem.” Yang said as she looked around a bit and started fiddling with her helmet.

"What's wrong, Yang!" Ruby asked, the fear already back in her voice.

"Attention friends, I’ve just finished my diagnostic check on Yang’s suit! My sensors say that her life support systems have completely failed!" Penny cut in causing Ruby's eyes to become as wide as saucers.

“Yeah, that would explain it.” Yang said as her helmet began to vent air through a small crack in the visor. “Oh, that is no good.”

"No good?” Ruby asked incredulously. “We’re on a shipwreck floating through open space! This is bad Yang! This is very, very bad! What do we do!?" Ruby shouted as she began to pace back and forth waving her arms around wildly. "Wait, calm down, it’s okay, there is still air in here, and the life support systems on our ship are working fine. So all we need to do is use a route that avoids all the compromised areas of the Dawn! Penny, what's the fastest route to the ship that still has life support active!?"

"That is a great idea, hold while I find us a route!" Penny declared before a short moment of silence followed. "Oh, umm, hmm, could you give me another second?” She asked before becoming quiet again.

“Penny, everything okay?” Ruby asked.

"Umm not really, I’m not really sure how to say this, but I’m having trouble finding a route, Ruby.” Penny finally declared sounding crestfallen.

"What!? There has to be at least one safe route! I don’t care if we have to back track a bit!" Ruby declared.

"I'm sorry Ruby! The Dawn was already heavily damaged before we arrived and the recent combat has only made it worse. Even if I could find a route to the Zwei, we parked it in the hanger, which has just been punctured by Covenant boarding ships." Penny replied.

"Then you’ll just need to bring the ship around and get her!" Ruby declared.

"There isn't enough time, Ruby. Even if there was, I’ve only been able to keep the ship hidden from detection because I’m making use of its optical camouflage. If I try to move the ship, they will surely see me, and I’m unable to operate all of the weapon systems on my own." Penny reasoned.

"That doesn’t even make sense, why don't we have enough time!?" Ruby screamed.

"Because…" Penny began before Cortana cut in.

"It is because the battle has destabilized the Dawn’s orbit. We’re currently on a crash course for a nearby planet and the ship doesn’t have enough power to correct its course. This bird is going down and its hull is too damaged to survive reentry. So we don’t want to be on it when it does." Cortana declared.

"Alright, that’s bad, but surely there’s some other option! We can't just leave Yang here!" Ruby argued before she felt her cloaks hood pulled up over her helmet and she turned to see Yang standing beside her.

"You're wasting time Ruby! You’re the leader of this team sis! That means you have a responsibility to get everyone off this ship, not just me!" Yang said.

"What’re you saying Yang?” Ruby asked as she felt a pit open up in her stomach.

"I’m saying that the team comes first! I’m the one who screwed up and so I’m the one who needs to accept the consequences.” Yang replied as she gripped her sister’s shoulders.

“Yang you can’t seriously be thinking about staying here! You’ll die!” Ruby shouted.

“Hey have a little faith sis, I don't plan to die here. All I’m saying is that this is a problem for me to figure out, but you need to get everyone else to safety first!" Yang shot back.

"Yang, you can’t! I won’t allow you to go alone!" Ruby declared defiantly and then yelped when the ship began to shake and shutter, nearly throwing them off balance.

“We don’t have a lot of time guys, whatever we’re going to do, we better do it fast!” Blake warned.

Ruby bit her lip so hard she nearly drew blood and cradled her helmet in her hands as she spoke, her voice verging on tears. “Yang, I can’t leave you, I just can’t. You promised we’d stay together!”

“I’m sorry Ruby, but we don’t have a choice.” Yang muttered as she hung her own head low.

"Hey Cortana, where is the nearest armory?" Chief asked.

"The nearest one is two floors below our current location. Why, you got an idea?" Cortana inquired.

"You could say that." The Chief mused.

"Chief, you couldn't possibly be thinking what I think your thinking, are you?" Cortana inquired.

"What if I am?" The Chief retorted.

Cortana let out a long sigh before responding. "I’m setting the way point now." She declared before a new arrow appeared on the Chief’s heads up display.

With that the Chief stepped forward to stand beside the still arguing sisters and placed a hand on the Yang’s shoulder to get her attention. "Miss Xiao Long, if I may. There is an armory about two floors below our current location. If we’re able to reach it, we could get you a new suit. It may not be comfortable or versatile as the one you have now, but they should all be equipped with working life support system."

Hearing the Chief say those words caused Yang’s jaw to drop, and Ruby’s eyes to light up. While both actions were unsecured by their helmets, neither went unnoticed by their companions. “Really you would do that!?” They both said at once.

The Chief shrugged addressing the rest of the group. "The rest of you should head back to your ship and prepare it to meet up with us once we get the suit."

"Chief, you don't have to do this you know." Ruby declared.

"No man gets left behind." Was all that the Chief said before he turned away and began to make his way down the hallway, only turning back for a moment to address Yang. “Are you coming?”

“Oh, right, sorry!” Yang sputtered before racing to catch up.

Once the two were out of sight, Weiss was the first to speak. "So, who is that guy anyway?" She inquired.

"He's a Spartan." Blake responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright what did you think of that? A little bit of drama there to spice things up. Look forward to next chapter it should be ending their time on the Forward onto Dawn and give us our first glimpse at Planet Remnant.


	4. Crash and Burn Final Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chief and the girls make a break for it in this intense end to the first ark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I have not put out much lately I have been super busy. This is the end of the first ark but there will be more to come so look forward to it.

Yang and the Chief made their down a burn and battle scared corridor until they reach a large ventilation duct. The duct was sealed off by a thick metal grate that was bolted in place. “Alright Chief all you have to do to get to the lower floor is pop this duct open and drop down.” Cortana stated. Chief nodded and made his way towards the grate and prepared to rip it off but was brushed aside by Yang.

“Don’t sweat it big guy I got this!” Yang says as she plants her hands firmly on the grate and began to pull hard on it. This causes it to bow and bend greatly but remains firmly attached. “Dang it! Why… won’t… this… thing… come… loose!? Yang complains between togs before she finally rips it free causing her to fall over backward and the heave grate to pin her to the floor. “Ahhhh!”

“Are you alright?” Chief asks as he pulls the grate off of her and offers his hand to help her up.

Ignoring Chief’s offer Yang quickly jumps back to her feet and dusts herself off. “I’m fine, just forgot my suit’s dust supply is drained. When it’s on emergency power like this the performance drops which means there is no super strength.” She says with a half hearted chuckle. “Now then, how about we get going!?” She says before leaping down the duct.

Chief quickly follows suit and leaps down the duck after her. He lands on the lower level with a crash leaving a massive dent on the floor below. After landing, he quickly brings is weapon to the ready and begins to scan for possible threats. He spots no enemies but he does spot his yellow companion dashing down the corridor ahead of him so he dashes to catch up to the yellow brawler right as she comes to a stop at a fork. “Hey Chief, which way was it to the armory? My heads up display is not working properly anymore.” Yang says while taping the side of her broken helmet causing sparks to fly.

“We will be taking the right passage to a stair case leading down to the floor below us where the armory is located.” Chief says while pointing the way. The yellow brawler nods in agreement before the pare bolts down the corridor. While on the way curiosity over takes Chief and he turns his head towards the yellow armored girl and figures it’s a good time to get some answers. “That armor you’re all wearing, it seems very advanced almost Spartan but your teammate Blake said your scavengers. How did you come to have such powerful equipment when your not connected to any military unit?”

“Blake chooses strange times to become talkative.” Yang said before letting out a sigh. “Well you helped us out big time, so I guess it’s alright. These suits don’t really belong to us. We are barrowing them from their creator. He said we could use them however we wanted as long as we returned them along with all of our combat data when we are done. I guess you could say we are his beta testers.” Yang said with a chuckle.

“Who could is the armors creator? He must be quite the genius to design something so powerful.” Chief asks.

“Oh ya, the guy is like crazy smart! He goes by the name Professor Geppetto and he designs most of our equipment. And I don’t just mean our armor but our ship as well! He even created our AI Penny!”

“Professor Geppetto, I feel like I heard that name before.” Chief says while in deep thought.

“You should Chief. Assuming it’s the same person than Professor Geppetto worked as one of Halsey’s assistants during the Spartan II program. He helped design a few of the first prototype’s for our Mjolnir armor. That would explain why the armor bares such striking resemblance to our own but. My records state that he has been missing for about ten years now.”

“For what reason were you all given this equipment? To what end?” Chief asks.

Yang simply shrugs. “I can’t really tell you. Truth be told, this is just a job for us. The professor gives us the gear we need and we bring back combat data. While were at it we make sure to bring back as many supplies as we can. And at the end we get a nice pay check for our troubles.”

“This is very strange. None of it makes since.” Cortana cuts in getting the attention of both Yang and Chief.

“What’s there not to understand?” Yang inquires.

“You say this is just a job for you girls but you have highly advanced weapons and armor, a smart AI, and a personnel light weight ship capable of slipspace travel. The value of any of those items on the black market would set you for life. So why do put yourselves at such risk? Are the people you are working for so dangerous you don’t feel like you have a choice?”

Yang began to laugh while waving off the question. “No it’s nothing like that. It’s not like we haven’t thought about that but we quickly realized that they wouldn’t be of much use to those who don’t have easy access to the Dust that fuels them. All of our weapons, armor, and even our ship are designed to use dust and it’s next to impossibly to get your hands on it off world. As for Penny, well there’s no way we could sell her off. She is like family you know?”

“I see.” Was the only response that Cortana had offered. Chief could tell the last line had, had an effect on her and he could certainly understand. The closest thing Chief had to family was his comrades and Cortana was no exception. He would do whatever it took to protect her and he knew she would do the same.

“By the way Miss Xiao Long…” Chief began before getting cut off by Yang.

“Yang is fine Chief. So what is it?”

“Yang, you said all of your equipment is powered by Dust. I remember your teammates also mentioning something about it but. I have never heard of such a fuel source. Care to elaborate on it?”

“Hmm well I use it a lot but I wouldn’t call myself an expert. If there was anyone to ask on the topic it would be Weiss. I can show you however.” Yang says before reaching into a pouch at her side and pulling out a large red crystal and handing it to Chief.

“Dust is a solid mineral? Is it naturally like this?” He asks while he inspects the crystal.

“Yep it’s mined just like that. We call it Dust because it’s only useful after we ground it down into a powder. However its much more table in its crystal form.”

“I see. Hey Cortana could you?” Chief began.

“Already on it Chief.” Cortana said as a light flickered on from Chief helmet and scanned back and forth over the Crystal. “Scan complete and Chief you aren’t going to believe this.”

“Try me.” Chief responded.

“There is trace amounts of many different common elements but most of this crystal is of a very rare element. The element in question was only known to exist on one planet. Yang you couldn’t possibly be from…”  
Yang let out a wide smile. “That’s right I am from Remnant!”

“Remnant? But that planet fell to the Covenant over five years ago. I thought it was destroyed?” Chief added.

“That’s just partly true. You see when the Covenant attacked all those years ago, they ripped through our defenses and took hold of the planet without much trouble but. They were after something, something so valuable they couldn’t risk destroying it in a glassing.”

“Forerunner artifacts?”

“That’s right but that’s not all they wanted. They were also after the Dust as well and they wanted it badly. As you may have heard we were attacked us so suddenly that many of our people couldn’t make it off the planet. It turned out we were the lucky ones though. The Covenant didn’t want any word to reach the UNSC about their occupation so they targeted and destroyed nearly every single ship that left the surface. Of course we found out later that a few lucky souls did make it out.”

“You said they were after the Dust, for what purpose did they want it.” Cortana asked.

Well that was the big question wasn’t it? We wanted to know as well so we banded together and did what we could to avoid their detection. Of course this meant watching them. We watched their every move and we began to learn a few things. Like how they were using the Dust to power forerunner equipment. Who would have thought right? Needless to say we were dumbstruck. I mean we never thought it had that kind of application. Anyway we soon began to wonder if we could use it ourselves. So we started to horde it and tinker with it. Before long we started pumping out weapons and we were able to fight back against them again but. We were heavily out numbered and for awhile it seemed like it was a losing battle. Then we made the greatest discovery of our lives.” Yang paused as the pair arrived at the stair case and began to make their way lower and lower until they finally reached the door to their floor. The doors control panel was totaled and the door was gammed tight.

“Stand back.” Chief says as he pulls a fragmentation grenade from his waist and forces it into a gap in the door frame before pulling the pin and backing away. The grenade soon goes off blowing a hole in the door large enough for Chief to stick his hands through. As he prepared to rip the door out of its frame he noticed blips begin to pop up on his motion sensor and the battle cries of Covenant Elites moving towards them. He glanced over at Yang who gave him a nod in understanding before the both of them then jumped through the open door ready for the fight ahead of them!

/////////////////////////////////////////

Three colorful blurs fly down a hallway leaving broken and bloody alien bodies in their wake. The leading blur colored in a deep shade of red begins to spin as a long bladed weapon appears and rakes through a crowd of Grunts blocking her way. Just as quickly as it appeared the weapon retracts and is tucked under her cloak. She then without slowing she glanced to a wall in which a waypoint arrow could be seen on her heads up display. “We are almost there guys just a little further!”

“We know Ruby, we can all see the waypoint. I think you are panicking a little because of Yang’s situation. Maybe you could take a moment to calm yourself down!” Weiss responds.

“I am not panicking! Ruby snapped causing both Weiss and Blake to jump in surprise.

“Ruby, I believe our friends are right. Your heart rate has been well above normal perimeters for quite some time now. A rest could help to restore proper levels.” Penny suggests.

“I can’t there isn’t enough time to rest!” Ruby snaps back again.

“Ruby, you sound like Blake when she is behind on paperwork!” Weiss responded.

“Ya you are… Hey!” Blake continued.

“Really though I am sure Yang will be fine, she always is. And if you don’t slow down a little we won’t be able to keep up! Weiss complains.

“Alright fine already!” Ruby says while throwing up her arms in defeat and finally slowing her frantic pace. Soon after a hologram of Penny flickers on behind her and looks back at Blake and Weiss to give them a wide smile before disappearing again.

“By the way I have been meaning to ask, who is this Spartan? I heard you call him Chief, is that correct?” Weiss asked.

“Ya he is Spartan 117 but he is also known as Master Chief. Most just seem to call him Chief so that’s what I went with. He told me he was set adrift at the end of the war four years ago and has been here ever since.” Blake responds.

“Wait thee Master Chief!? Isn’t he the same Spartan that destroyed the Halo installation and help end the war in the first place!?” Weiss asked.

“He did mention something about that.” Ruby answered.

“Wow who would have thought we would meet somebody like that out here in the sticks? In a way it’s kind of thanks to him that we are able to be here today.” Weiss stated.

“Hmm I guess that’s true. I mean if he didn’t end the war the covenant would have never pulled back long enough for us to take the Beacon. With out it there is no way we could hold off invaders now.” Blake adds.  
“I guess you could say it’s **Destiny**.” Ruby said before Penny cut in.

“No Ruby I do believe that is a completely different universe. Though I can understand how you could make that mistake.” Penny stated.

“Huh?” The three girls said in sync right before they arrived at the hanger where their ship was docked.

The ship was completely cloaked but there were several Covenant forces walking through the dock. “Alright Penny now it’s your turn! Disengage optical camouflage and activate the chain turrets!”

“Roger Captain!” Penny said right before the air in the docking bay began to flicker and the shape of a large ship appeared inside. All of the Covenant jumped in surprise right before a set of turrets deployed and began to unload on the un-expecting Aliens. Half of them almost instantly got shredded while the rest began to regroup and prepare for a counter attack. Until the girls of team RWBY leaped down on top of them and finished the job. “All hostiles terminated, returning to standby mode.” Penny said while retracting the turrets and setting down on the ground to let the girls inside.

Once inside Weiss and Blake instantly went over to a locker with their name printed on it and began pulling out ammo clips and Dust cylinders and loading them into their weapons and armor. While Ruby sat down at the command chair and activated her long range radio. “There is too much interference for are normal intercoms so I need something with a bit more power.” She presses a button and then begins to speak into the mike. “This is Ruby, Yang do you read me?”

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Hey sis, I read you loud and clear!” Yang responded through her head set while delivering a savage right hook to the head of an Elite causing it to drop to the ground. “What’s up?”

“We have arrived at the ship and are ready for pick up. Are you in position yet?” Ruby asked.

“Not yet but we are very close! I will keep you posted!” Yang said as she glanced over to Chief driving a combat knife into the throat of another Elite. She glanced at his back and noticed that his Assault Rifle had run out of ammo. Yang then reached behind her back and pulled out the Battle Rifle she had found early. “Hey Chief heads up!” She said as she chucked it towards the Spartan.

Without missing a beat Chief snatched the weapon out of mid air and checked the ammo indicator. He couldn’t help but crack a grin under his helmet when he seen that it was full. He instantly began to unload three round bursts into the heads of the remaining enemies. “My favorite how did you know?” He says jokingly.

“Hey I know what the guys like.” Yang said as she strutted her way to the Armory. “So this is the place huh?” She then pressed a button on the panel to open the door. Much to her surprise it worked just fine. No need to forced entry for once. Not that she really minded break doors down but she could use a little break.

Chief placed the Battle Rifle on his back magnetic strips activating to lock it in place right next to the Assault Rifle and stepped inside the armory with Yang. “It looks like this Armory was mainly used by ODST. Their suits are well suited for pressure changes, so it’s a stroke of good luck for us.”

“Good luck huh, you seem to get a lot of that big guy. Not that I am complaining of course. Rather I think you and I need to hit the dice tables some time.” Yang said as she smashed her way into a locker with a female sounding name and pulled out a space suit. “Nice this should work! Sorry about this Lieutenant Barbara but I don’t think you will be coming back for it.” She said while chuckling.

“Good you found a suit.” Chief said before getting an awkward stare from the yellow armored brawler. “Is something wrong Yang?”

“Chief, I think we should give Miss Xiao Long some privacy.” Cortana suggests.

“Oh, yes, right. I will let myself out.” Chief says as he steps out into the hall and takes up a defensive position.

Moments later Chief heard Yang call back for him. He moved back into the Armory to see Yang now fully dressed in an ODST suit with a shotgun strapped to her back and her yellow gauntlets still strapped to her wrists. She also had a large duffle back thrown over her shoulder. “What’s in the bag?” He asks.

“It’s my armor of course! I can’t just leave it behind. Anyway let’s get ready for the pick up.” Yang said in a matter of fact like tone.

“Right.” Chief said as he picked up a crate of fragmentation grenades along with several rocket cases and dropped them all into a corner of the back wall. He then quickly grabbed onto several grenades and ammo clips for himself before they both stepped out of the room. “Alright this blast should punch a hole in hall of the ship. Once that happens we can we wait for your team to come around and then we board them. Is everything clear?” Yang nods while Chief pulls out one of the grenades and pulls the pin. He quickly chucks it into the back corner of the room and closes the door behind them. A massive blast erupts from the armory followed by the sound of air being sucked out into space.

Yang then gets on her intercom. “This is Yang we are ready for pick up! I repeat we are ready for pick up!”

///////////////////////////////////////

“Alright let’s do this!” Ruby shouts before she pulls Penny’s chip out of her helmet and plants it back into the ship. For a moment another Penny appears before the combined into one.

“Fusion complete, all functions restored!” Penny reports.

“Good lets get this bird in the air!” Ruby says while she grabs the controls of their ship other wise known as the Zwei Mark I. Causing the other two girls to rush to their stations and do the same. “Penny focus our power in our thrusters and our shields.”

“Diverting power Ruby!” Penny responds before she spins and punches the sticks causing the ship to rotate and zoom out of dock. “Debris incoming!” Penny says as Ruby weaves through ship fragments. She then zooms across the hall of the ship a lower back side were a noticeable venting hole was located. Ruby spun the ship so that the rear was facing the hole and opening a hatch on the back of their ship. Almost on queue a door inside the hole was opened and began to vent even more air. Chief and Yang jumped out from behind the door getting swept up in the air current and flying into back of the ship. The ships hatch closed soon after.

“Yang, Chief! Thank goodness you made it!” Ruby said.

“Ya I am glad too!” Yang responded while before making her way to her station. “But this is not over yet!”

“That’s right Ruby! The Covenant is on to us and they are coming this way!” Penny added.

“Begin charging the slipspace drive and take evasive maneuvers!” Ruby ordered. The ships weapons and shields began to flare as stray shots from the Covenant battle ships slammed into it and they returned fire on the smaller fast moving ships. There was no way they could win a fight against them here. The Zwei was not well suited for ship to ship combat so they had to focus on keeping them off their tail. Ruby used their ships high speed and maneuverability to hook around the Forward onto Dawn and get out of their line of fire.

“Ruby we are ready for a slipspace jump!” Penny stated.

“Plot a course for Remnant! We are going home!” Ruby shouts.

“Already done! Jumping in three.”

“Wait your jumping back to your home world!? What if they follow you!?” Chief inquires.

“Two!”

“Don’t worry about that! Rather we are counting on it!” Yang states.

“One!” The moment Penny said a hole was ripped in space in front of them and the Zwei Mark I shot throw like a bullet leaving the chamber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time we will finally arrive at Remnant.


	5. Sleep Talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Crew of team RWBY along with Master Chief are on course for Remnant but its not a short flight. So they finally have a moment to relax. How will they use it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of an informational chapter. We get a little bit of backstory RWBY characters as they exist in this world.

#### Slipspace aboard the deep space scavenging ship Zwei Mark I.

The crew of team RWBY and Master Chief have been flying silently for nearly ten minutes before they finally began to relax. Yang was the first to break the silence with a loud yawn as she stretched out her limbs. “Well that was thing.”

“Indeed it was, but really Yang? The insanity has only been over for ten minutes and you’re already bored?” Weiss asks.

“Bored, no way that was so intense how could I have been!? As a matter of fact even I feel like I have had more than my share of excitement for awhile. Besides we are a long way from home and have three days to kill before we get back home so I think I could go for a power nap. See you guys in the cryo chamber.” Yang said before picking up her armor bag and standing up from her station. She then made her way towards the back of the ship and turned to face her teammates. “So, how about the rest of you guys? You want to chill out for awhile?” She asked.

Blake and Weiss looked at each other and nodded. They both than sat up from their stations and made their way after teammate. Right before they were about the leave the room a thought occurred to Weiss. “Hey wait we only have four working cryo pods right now. What is Chief going to do?”

“Oh ya, your totally right Weiss! I totally forgot about that. Well I don’t really mind if he uses mine. I prefer sleeping the old fashioned way anyway. I mean it’s a short trip and that bronchial inhalant is just so gross, yuck!”  
“Come now Ruby, that’s no reason to avoid cryo sleep. You have to get use to it at some point.” Weiss scolded.

“I am not avoiding, I just have a few other things to take care of before we arrive back home. And may as well let Chief have it in the mean time right?”

“I guess that’s true.” Weiss said while letting out a sigh. She then turned away from her leader to look at the man in question. “So what do you think Chief?”

“It’s a generous offer but if it is all the same to you I would like to stay up as well. I have been in cryo sleep for the last four years, so I am in no hurry to go back in. Besides I have been out of the loop for so long. It would be a good chance to get up to speed.” Chief responded.

“Hmm well I can understand that but. With that said it seems wrong to leave you all alone since you and Cortana are our guests and all. So I guess I will stay up and keep you company. While I am at it I can even fill you in on a few things that you may have missed. And of course there are a few things about you I would like to know.” Ruby said.

Chief nodded in agreement causing Ruby to glance back at Weiss who shrugged. “Very well, I guess that’s fine.” She then turned towards the main control station where a holographic Penny stud. “Penny you think you could you set my wake up call for twenty-four hours from now?”

“Most certainly!” Penny said happily.

“Good. I guess I will head to bed then.” As she began to walk away she noticed the confused look on Ruby’s face and decided to address it. “What? You haven’t gotten a good night sleep in days. I will let it go this once because of the circumstances but. You’re not the only one with questions Ruby and you still need to get use to get use to cryo sleep.”

Ruby nods while giving an awkward smile which luckily couldn’t be seen through her helmet. “Alright thanks partner. See you tomorrow.” Weiss nodded and then made her way through the door at the back of the ship and closed it behind her. Ruby then spun around the face the controls of the ship and hit a few buttons and switches. “Penny can you check are long range sensors? Do you detect any nearby slipspace activity?”

“I am registering mild slipspace activity. It is faint and I am unable to tell if it is Covenant or not but. We have a fair lead on it, so it shouldn’t be an issue.” Penny responds.

“Alright thanks Penny, keep me posted alright. You’re dismissed.” Ruby said as she flicked a few latches on her helmet and with a hiss of air being released Ruby’s helmet was removed and placed on a flat part of the control panel.

“Roger Captain!” Penny says before giving Ruby a salute and her hologram flickering off.

Chief took a moment to look over the young leader in front of him. Her hair was short and black with red steaks running through it. Not a usual hair style for a soldier but they said themselves that they were not soldiers. Then a question that had been on his mind for some time finally manifested itself. “Miss Rose, if you don’t mind me asking just how old are you? No disrespect but you just seem a bit young to hold the position of leader and captain.”

Chief could then here Cortana speak to him through his helmet. “John! It’s very rude to ask a lady her age!”

Ruby let out a half hearted chuckle before responding. “Ya I get that a lot. Not without good reason I guess. I am after all the youngest squad leader among the current savaging teams. I was 16 when I signed up and that was only four years ago now.”

“So your 20 years old now?” Chief asked.

“That’s right, and I will be 21 in a few months. Yang says she wants to throw a huge drinking party to celebrate my adult hood but. I get the feeling she just wants to see me get completely hammered.”  
“I see, and the rest of your team?” Chief continued.

“They are all around the same age. Weiss and Blake are both 23 and my sister Yang is the oldest at 24.”

“Has your age difference ever caused conflict in your team?”

“Well I wouldn’t say it hasn’t cased any. I mean Weiss took awhile to warm up to the idea of having a captain a little over two years younger than her. And I can’t say I blame her. I really don’t know why I was chosen for the position some times. I mean Weiss is way smarter than me she could probably take this ship apart and put it back together without batting an eye. Yang on the other hand is a much better fighter and has far more real combat experience than I do. And Blake is way more level headed than I could ever be she would have never panicked like I did earlier today.”

“I wouldn’t say that. The best leaders aren’t always the smartest, the strongest, or even the most level headed. What makes a good leader is the ability to understand their team’s strengths and weaknesses and be able to utilize those strengths and counteract the weaknesses. It’s clear to me you understand this well enough. And of course a leader must be able to command the respect of their subordinates and I would say you have achieved great success there as well. You are always looking out for your team, even right now.”

Ruby flinched slightly during the last sentences Chief spoke. “Wha..what do you mean Chief?”

“It’s ok you don’t have to pretend. I know you stayed up to keep an eye on me. You wanted to make sure I wasn’t a threat to your team am I right? Don’t worry I am not offended, I would likely have done the same in your position. You know you remind me of somebody I… use to know.”

“Oh who would that be Chief?” Ruby asked now slightly less on edge and more curious.

“Spartan-051 Kurt. To tell you the truth, at first he made many of us uneasy. He was unusually sociable and friendly for a Spartan. He would talk up and get to know just about every one he met, even the drill instructors and his superior officers. He rarely ever carried the air of seriousness that many of our comrades did but. Make no mistake his combat skills leaved nothing to be desired and his instincts were almost supernatural. No one could ever explain it but Kurt almost had a nose for trouble. We quickly learned to accept his “funny feelings” as being more reliable than our top of the line radars and sensors. And most of all he always put the safety and mural of his team above himself. He was one of the few Spartans beside myself to receive an officer’s position and I think it was well dissevered.

“Wow, he sounds like he is a great man. Where is he now?” Ruby asked.

“He is… missing in action.” Chief replied in his usual robotic tone.

“Oh… I see.” Ruby said while mentally kicking herself for asking.

“So remember Ruby, when you lead others it’s not about you. It’s not even about the mission. It’s about your team. So as long as you put them first then you will be just fine.”

“Thanks Chief! Really I mean it!” Ruby said while she put on a bright smile and tried to wipe away tears.

Chief could then here Cortana speak to him inside his helmet again. “Now look what you did you made the poor girl cry.”

/////////////////////////////////////////////

**24 Hours Later**

Ruby has gone to rest in the cryo chamber for the remaining course of the trip at her teammate’s request. And said teammate Weiss Schnee was not sat at her station flipping through several logs and charts while occasionally requesting assistance from their AI Penny. Without looking away from her work she opened her mouth to speak. “You know we have brand new Assault Rifles on board this ship. So you don’t have to go to all that trouble.”

Chief currently had his Assault Rifle completely disassembled and laid out in front of him. He was inspecting and cleaning each piece with up most scrutiny. “It is as the saying goes Miss Schnee, this is my Rifle there are many more just like it but it is mine. Besides it is good practice.” He said as he finished his inspection and reassembled the weapon with lightning quick speed.

“Oh great it looks like we have another weapons manic on board. I bet you Ruby got along swimmingly last night. Speaking of which what did you guys end up talking about?”

“We…” Chief paused for a moment to consider how much to share about their conversation. “We spoke of a great deal of things. She asked me about how I came to be a Spartan and traded war stories. Of course we did talk a great deal about weapons and armaments. She new far more then I had expected. We talked for nearly an hour about Reach’s ban on Battle Rifle imports.”

“You can blame corporate greed on that one.” Weiss stated.

“What do you know on this subject Miss Schnee?” Chief inquired.

“Well I know that Reach companies were the leading manufacturers of the DMR Rifles. Though it’s a fine Rifle, many prefer the Battle Rifle and its three round burst. Even if it meant paying a bit extra to have them imported. It was costing Reach Manufacturers billions so they lined the pockets of council members and forced out their competitors. I can’t help but wonder if things would have gone better for Reach if they allowed their men to have the equipment they were more comfortable with.” Weiss responded.

“You seem to know a lot on this subject as well. I guess that makes since being an heiress to a corporation yourself. You refine and distribute Dust correct?”

“Ruby told you about that?” Weiss asked while finally turning away from her work to look at the Chief.

Chief gives her a small nod. “She mentioned it but she didn’t tell me much. I am curious though. Why did you decide to take on such risky work when you have so much to lose?”

“Lose? I don’t really feel like I would lose anything. My older sister can handle running the company well enough on her own. As for why I do it. I would imagine it’s for a lot of the same reasons you do it. Our home was in danger and some one had to step up to save it. I couldn’t count on anyone else to do it for us so signed up as soon as I could. Ever since I have been bringing back supplies to feed our people and arm our soldiers. Though we are safe from the covenant for the time being we have many other problems to deal with and can’t count on the UNSC for support.”

“Why can’t you go to the UNSC for support?” Chief asks.

“There are a lot of people on Remnant that have a bad taste in their mouths from the covenant invasion a few years back. The people feel like the UNSC abandoned them. UNSC personal that left behind also ditched their colors and now see themselves as Remnant’s own military than the Earth’s. Also of course being out of the Earth’s reach has caused an influx of rebels but they know better than to stir up trouble. Not with General James Ironwood and Guardian Ozpin watching over everyone.”

“Who is this General? And who is Ozpin?”

“Oh sorry, I always forget they are not well known out of Remnant’s territory. General Ironwood was the highest ranking UNSC officer at the end of the Covenant invasion and has become the commanding officer of our official unofficial army. I say army but they act more as a global defense force. Ozpin is a bit of a mystery. He just showed up one day out of thin air and a flash of bright light. No one is quite sure why but we were all drawn to him. His skill on the battlefield and his leadership skills were unmatched. So much so many people began referring to him as the Wizard. After we had located what the Covenant had been looking for. He led many of our forces against the Covenant and ultimately helped us capture the most important Forerunner artifact we have ever found otherwise known as the Beacon.

“I remember one of your teammates mentioning something about that. What is this Beacon? If I know Forerunner technology it must be powerful.”

“You bet it is. It’s the reason we are able to stand on our own. It is a global defense system so powerful it makes invasion nearly impossible. We used it to force the Covenant out of our skies and to keep anyone who would threaten our planet far away. After the invasion had ended Ozpin was given the position of Guardian. His job is to protect the Beacon from anyone who would try to destroy or miss uses its power. And we scavengers report directly to him. He created us to act as emergency peace keepers and to test all of our new Dust based equipment in the field.”

“He sounds like a great man.” Chief added.

“He is Chief, he is.”

///////////////////////////////////////////

**Over 24 Hours Later**

Ruby’s cryo pods pops open with a hiss dropping the girl onto the floor in front of her gagging as the bronchial inhalant is ejected from her mouth. “Yep still gross!” Ruby thought to herself while trying to shake off the haze in her head. She looks back and forth to see the other three pods are also empty and the alert message is blaring. “Penny what’s going on!?” Ruby yells.

“Captain Ruby! We are currently still on approach to Remnant and will arrive in 1 hour and 43 minutes but. I have detected large scale slipspace activity behind us. It appears to be Covenant, what are your orders?!”

Ruby shook her head and straightened herself. “Remain on course! Diverting now will not do us any good. I want you to get HQ on the line as soon as possible! We need to warn them as soon as possible!”

“Roger Captain!” Penny replied.

Ruby then rushed into the near by locker room to suit up. Moments later she emerged with her red armor and cloak all in place with her helmet at her side. She took a moment to look at her helmet and speak. “Looks like it’s going to be another long day huh?” She then placed the helmet on her head and it hissed as it sealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing I wanted to do with this chapter other than just set up some back story is I wanted to make sure every character was getting a proper amount of screen time. Chief had one on one time with both Blake and Yang so far so it only made since to go with Ruby and Weiss this time around.
> 
> Anyway I know I said this last time but for sure Remnant next chapter.


	6. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second ark begins as the crew of Zwei Mark I finally make their return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say about this chapter other than it took a bit longer than I would have liked. Though I would love to hear what you think so please by all means leave a comment.

**Planet Remnant - Beacon Control Center.**

The sound of humming electronics and the combined rhythm of steady footsteps and the tapping of a cane on the metal floor is all that filled the empty halls of the forerunner installation. The owner of both is a tall middle aged man dressed in a brown uniform. His hair glistens an unnatural shade of grew, almost silver. His eyes peek over a pair of dark slanted glasses. In his hand opposite the cane he grasps a large mug filled with what appears to be freshly brewed coffee and every few steps he takes a subtle sip of its steamy contents. Despite his calm appearance he marches with purpose in his stride. When he finally comes to a stop a set of smooth metal doors are before him. He quickly tocks his cane under his arm and then places his now free hand onto a scanner beside the doors. The scanner flashes and the doors slide away to reveal a large room full of alien like interfaces and similarly uniformed personnel at each station.

Several of the personnel at the different stationed turned to face the silver haired man and a look of surprise quickly came over their features. “Ozpin sir, what brings you here today?!” One of the men asks.

The man smiles as he passes over the threshold into the room. “What, the man in charge of this installations security can’t pay a visit everyone once in awhile?” He says jokingly.

“No, of course not sir! It’s just that you usually send Miss Goodwitch for the daily inspection.”

“True but she has many other responsibilities and I can’t always rely on her to do everything. Besides there is something I wanted to check on myself.” He says before taking another sip of his steamy brew.

“Oh what would that be sir?” The man asks curiosity clear on his face. Many of the other personnel bared a similar expression. It was very rare for Ozpin to make the trek from his office to the command center. And when he did it normally meant something was going on.

“Well firstly care to give me a status report on our savaging team’s progress?” Ozpin inquired.

“Yes sir, right away!” The man said before turning towards his station and hitting a few holographic keys to bring up a spread sheet of filled with requested information. “As you can see most of our teams are currently off world. We currently only have team CFVY, JNPR, and SONN planet side right now but. We do have word that team CRDL is in transit and should arrive by the end of the day. They said they got quite the haul again this time.”

“Oh did they now? They have been performing quite well as of late. If they keep this up they might even team CFVY.” Ozpin then takes a moment to look over the list and something peaks his interest. “Hmm how about team RWBY it says here they were last heard from six days ago when they left to investigate a UNSC distress beacon. Any update on their status?”

“No sorry sir, we have heard nothing from them as of yet.” He responded.

“I see.” Ozpin says as he takes a moment to take another sip of his coffee. He then glances over towards a uniformed women working at another station. He then makes his way over to her station.

The woman notices her superior approaching and snaps to attention. “Ozpin, sir! Is there anything I can do for you?!”

“Yes I would like you to check our long range senor’s for any slipspace activity.”

“Yes sir right way!” She says as she goes to work. “There are a few blips here and there but nothing usual. Is there anything in particular your looking for sir?”

“Hmm no but keep scanning for the time being. Let me know if there are any new developments.” Ozpin said as he turned towards the first man. “I want you scramble all of our planet-side teams.” He then steps into the middle of the room and addresses everyone. “Attention I want everyone to their battle stations and prepare to fire the Beacon!” Everyone snapped to attention and began to rush through the room.

“Scramble!? Sir, are we under attack?!” The first man asks.

Ozpin turns on his heels to face the man and with a straight face he says. “No, not yet at least but I have a funny feeling.”

///////////////////////////////////////////

**Slipspace aboard the deep space scavenging ship Zwei Mark I.**

Shortly after awaking from her cryo sleep and dawning her red cloak and armor the young captain Ruby Rose rushed for her ships control room. Once she made it to the door leading in side Ruby heard the voice of her team’s AI Penny enter her ears. “Allow me captain!” She said as the door shot open with out command and quickly closed behind her as she entered.

“Thanks Penny!” Ruby said as she slid into her station. As she got herself comfortable she glanced around the room at her other three teammates along with Master Chief already at their stations. She could help but wonder why they were all awake before her but. She figured there would be time for that later. “Penny, bring me up to speed! What’s going on out there?!”

“I have detected large scale slipspace activity behind us and growing closer. It matches Covenant signatures. We should be fine until we reach Remnant but by my calculations they will be right on top of us when we come out of slipspace. Right now we are still on course, how would you like to precede Captain?” Penny responded.

“Hmm, what do you guys think?” Ruby asked while turning towards the four other members of the group.

Yang shrugged as she responded. “We kind of figured this would happen anyway. So I say we just stay the course.”

“But wait if you don’t change course you will be leading the Covenant straight to Remnant, isn’t that a bad idea?” Cortana inquired.

“Normally it would be but because of the Beacon Remnant’s defenses are impenetrable. The Covenant is walking right into a death trap.” Weiss stated.

“Besides if we change course we will be all on our own when we come out of slipspace. The Covenant will rip us to shreds and our equipment and Penny will be lost. They are too valuable to let that happen.” Blake added.

“Alright then we are all in agreement! Penny, stay on course and ready our shields and weapons! Lastly I need you to try and get through to command! The sooner we get the word out the better off we will be!” Ruby said as she began operating the controls.

“I hope these girls know what they are doing Chief.” Cortana huffed. Chief felt the urge to protest such a foolish plan or rather what seemed to be the lack there of but. They seemed so confident that it was the right decision and decided to trust their judgment.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////

**Planet Remnant - Beacon Control Center.**

Ozpin had remained stoic since he arrived. He calmly watches as the uniformed personnel run around him in a panic. His gaze only lowered from them to sip from his freshly refilled Mug. His attention was finally captured when one of his men called over. “Ozpin Sir! We have an incoming transmission from General Ironwood. Should I put him through?”

Ozpin nodded to the man as he took another sip and turned his gaze towards a large monitor in the center of the room. The monitor flickered and the figure of a large man in a white uniform appeared across the display. “Hello James what do I owe the pleasure?” Ozpin asked.

“Funny that’s what I want to know Oz. Why have you scrambled your men? And more importantly why is the Beacon charging up!?” The white uniformed man asks.

“We are preparing for battle of course. I have a funny feeling that the enemy should be on its way soon after all.” Ozpin responded.

“Oz, I don’t know where you are getting this idea from but. We have heard nothing of a possible attack from any of our informants nor have we pick anything up on our long range sensors but. What we have heard is that your men are just as in the dark as we are. Now don’t get me wrong I trust your judgment Oz but the council thinks you’re making a grab for power and my hands are tied. If you don’t have your forces stand down soon, I may have no choice but to make you.” General Ironwood said in a serious voice causing all of the personal in the control room to freeze to look up at the screen before refocusing on their leader for instruction.

“Well lets hope it doesn’t come to that General.” Ozpin’s expression remained natural or almost mocking when he brush off the question. Ozpin then turned back towards one of the stations. “Are we picking up anything yet?”  
The women working the station was still slightly stunned but quickly shook it off and focused her attention at the display in front of her. “No, sir there is… wait…” She said as her eyes spot a small blip on the screen. “Could that have been…” Then the blip turns into what could only be called a storm. “Sir, I am getting something it’s huge!” Everyone including the General focused on the women as she began to flick switches and press keys to hone in on the signal. “Sir we are reading large scale slipspace activity in lunar orbit. Its way to large for it to be a single ship, there is a fleet coming our way!”

Ozpin almost smirked before turning back towards General Ironwood. “Well James it looks like we won’t have to square off today.”

Ironwood was silent for a moment as he stared down at the silver haired wizard. Then he finally let out a sigh of what seemed to be relief. “I don’t know how you do it Oz but I’m glad you’re on our side. The question is now, who is attacking us? Is it the Covenant? It could also be the UNSC or even that new Rebel faction that has been popping up recently.”

Then another man was shaken as his station began to blare at him. “Sir we have a incoming transmission from team RWBY!”

Ozpin glanced over to the man and spoke. “Put them through, I get the feeling this is important.” The man nodded and pressed a button casing the monitor in the middle of the room to split. One half shows Ironwood on one side of the screen and a slightly panicked girl wearing a red cloak and armor. “Hello Miss Rose you have something to tell me?”

“Ozpin!? Umm yes! We are inbound from our last mission, we have some presses cargo on board and covenant is hot on our tail! We need back up as soon as possible!”

“Thank you Miss Rose, I guess that answers most of our questions General.” Ozpin says before taking a sip from his mug. He then turns to face the nearest station. “What is the Beacon’s status?”

“Beacon is at 79% charge sir!” The man working the station responds.

“That should do. Miss Rose I need you to remain on course and be prepared to take evasive maneuvers when you leave slipspace! We have a little welcoming party ready for them.

//////////////////////////////////

“Roger that sir!” Ruby says as she ends the transmission. “It looks like Ozpin already knew and they are preparing the Beacon!”

“Of course he does, you know one of these days I would really like to know how he does that!” Weiss added.

“Well if you are going to do that we have to get through this alive! Penny I need you to link up to HQ! I need to know where they are aiming and to keep us far out of their way!” Ruby added.

“Roger Captain! Everyone make sure strapped in! And Cortana think you can give me a hand with the calculations?”

“Chief?” Cortana said in questioning tone. Causing Chief to nod and remove the chip from the back of his helmet and pass it forward to Ruby he inserted it into a slot next to Penny. The moment Cortana connected to the vessel she was bombarded with information. AI process information at a much higher rate than humans, so Cortana had more than enough time to get herself familiar with the new space. In a few seconds she knew the complete layout of the ship and all of its components. “Quite impressive, I guess I finally understand that old saying. How did it go again? Some times big things come in small packages.”

“What do you mean by that friend?” Penny inquired.

“Oh I just meant despite this vessel’s small size it is very well equipped and everything seems to be top of the line. With that said what do you mean by friend?” Cortana responded. She didn’t intend to come off as upset but. Cortana had never been referred to as a friend before.

“Oh my how rude of me! I haven’t even properly introduced myself have I?! I am Penny 01-62559. You can just call me Penny. I realize I was being a bit presumptuous in calling you friend. I just have never worked with any AI other than Penny units and I think I got a little too exited.” Penny said

“There is no need to fret Penny. I would be more than happy to be your friend. I was just a little surprised.” Cortana responded.

Casing Penny to literally light up and pull Cortana into a hug. “Sensational! We are going to have so much fun together!”

Cortana was stunned for nearly two whole seconds. For a smart AI it was far too long to be frozen. Being an AI, Cortana has not use to physical contact of any kind. Penny was not like any AI she had met before but. Something else bothered her even more. It was here name, if her records were correct. Penny is Remnant’s Original UNSC assigned smart AI but. That shouldn’t be possible, at the time of the invasion Remnant’s AI should have been reaching the end of its life cycle and being prepared for replacement. There is no way it could still be operating at this level without showing any signs of rampancy. Even I can escape it forever…” Cortana thought before she flickered red for a moment.

“Is everything alright friend?” Penny inquired.

“It’s nothing Penny, say if you don’t mind me asking. How many earth years have you been in operation?” Cortana inquired.

Penny giggled slightly. “Cortana you know it’s not proper to ask a women her age right?”

“Ya, I know but I just thought since I am your friend and all.”

Penny began to smile again “I am 10 years old now.”

“Really?! And you haven’t exercised any problems?”

“I had some problems a few years ago but, father fixed me up. He says I won’t need to worry about it anymore.”

“I see.” Cortana had just found her reason for being here. For awhile now she didn’t have much hope of her condition improving. If this professor can prevent rampancy then she would need to find him.

The two AI’s conversation ended there and continued to perform their calculations in silence. And their conversation went unnoticed by the rest of the crew. Moments later Penny called out to the crew. “Attention we will be reentering normal space in ten seconds!”

“Alright Penny were ready!” Ruby declared.

Ten seconds later on the dot a whole in space ripped open and the Zwei Mark I popped back into normal space above a large blue orb known as Remnant. Without missing a beat the ship shot off down towards the planets surface as large ripples in space began to pop up around it signaling the covenant’s arrival. Covenant ships of all shapes and sizes began appearing through the rips. The Zwei had to maneuver out of the way of a ship popping out of slipspace right in front of them. Despite the Zwei’s small size and quick speed it didn’t take long for the Covenant battleships to zero in on the vessel and begin bombarding it with plasma blasts.

The Zwei barreled back and forth evading plasma volley after plasma volley but they couldn’t keep it up and it wouldn’t take much to obliterate the ship. Then when it looked like they were breaking away from the pack they were swarmed by a countless number Spirit and Phantom drop ships. Drop ships were manageable for the Zwei but there were far too many of them and the shields were dropping fast. Then almost on queue a massive beam of light erupted from the planet’s surface and swept across the fleet with blinding speed and devastating power. The beam was wide enough to swallow smaller ships whole and hot enough to burn away a Rev Class Carriers shields and split the ship in half in a matter of seconds.

The force of the beam passing nearby sent the Zwei and its smaller pursuers flying in every direction. Lucky for Ruby and her team they were heading in the right direction. With in a few seconds they were reentering the planets atmosphere. With the shields depleted the Zwei’s hall began to ignite as it plummeted towards the surface. “Hang in there everyone! We are going to have a bumpy landing!” Ruby yelled as warning signals blared from her station.  
Moments later Zwei finally met the ground with roaring hiss and crunch as slammed through a cliff side and slid across the rocky ground below until it finally collided with a tree line. Once the ship finally came to a stop Ruby looked around to make sure her crew was alright. “Is everyone good?” She asked while watching her other three teammates begins to stir. Yang gave her a thumbs up will Weiss and Blake just gowned.  
“I think I am going to be sick. Please never do that again Ruby.” Weiss complained.

“Agreed!” Blake added.

“How about you Chief?” Ruby asked before noticing Chief had already made his way to the front of the ship and was glancing out the cracked window. “What’s up Chief?”

“It looks like we aren’t home free yet.” He stated causing Ruby and her crew to come to the wind to see for themselves. The skies were filled with falling drop ships and drop pods. The Covenant may have been blown out of the sky but they only had one place to go.


	7. Homecoming Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the going gets tough the tough get going. Also the Chief faces a new threat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for not uploading anything the last few days. I have been away but. I am back now and my work load has decreased a great deal so I should be able to upload more often again.

After team RWBY’s ship the Zwei Mark I crash landed on the surface of planet Remnant they realized the Covenant threat though compromised is still at large. So Ruby, Yang, and the Master Chief had taken up a defensive position around the Zwei while Weiss and Blake stayed inside to see if the ship could be repaired.

A few clicks away from the ships location a lone Covenant Elite wondered aimlessly through the unfamiliar forest with his Plasma Carbine Rifle leveled and at the ready. He was here because his drop ship lost control and flung him out into the forest below before crashing several miles away. He was lucky that the tree line and his armors shields were enough to absorb most of his fall but. He felt that his luck was running out. Because he was currently completely cut off from his comrades and was far behind what he assumed to be enemy lines. If that wasn’t bad enough it seemed that the local wildly was far from friendly, as he had already had to fend off a horde of black furred beasts. So his eyes carefully track back and forth searching for any signs life namely the black beasts, the humans, or their demons. After walking for several feet he came across the body of one of his comrades. He quickly ran a heat scan and the body was giving off a weak signature so he rushed over to check on the body and when he his shields flared violently and he heard the crack of a human rifle ringing in his ears. Realizing his mistake he tried to move into cover but he stumbled while his vision begun to blur. Then he heard a second crack before everything turned dark and he slumped over onto the ground motionless.

Meanwhile several clicks away Ruby and the Chief were posted around their fallen ship with Ruby’s Crescent Rose hoisted up with the barrel of the weapon facing towards the forest. “You’re a good shot Miss Rose. I am still a little surprised that your weapon is a Sniper Rifle. I couldn’t really tell with the… unique design of it.” Chief stated.

Ruby giggled slightly. “I told you, you can just call me Ruby. And thanks, sis always brags about how I am the best marksmen on Remnant but I have my doubts. Just having good scores on the range doesn’t always translate to field results. As for Crescent Rose here, I personally customized it. The version they gave me at first was a lot simpler.”

“I think your sister has the right to brag. It seems to me you both have a lot to be proud of.” Cortana chimed in.

“Hey guys! Blake and Weiss are done inspecting the ship!” Yang shouts as she runs up to the pair.

“That’s great, what’s the verdict?!” Ruby asks.

“Well…” Yang begins while rubbing the back of her neck.

“The verdict is that we have some good news and some bad news.” Weiss stated as her and Blake made their way out of the ship to join the rest of the group.

“So there is a problem then?” Chief inquired.

“Indeed. The good news is that the Zwei will fly again.” Weiss continued.

“And what’s the bad news?” Ruby asked in tone that suggested she didn’t really want to hear it.

“The bad news is that it won’t be flying any time soon. The damage could be repaired if we have the right parts and the proper tools but we don’t have nearly the tools or the parts to do it here.” Weiss explained with a sigh.

“What are our options?” The Chief asks.

“Well the way I see it we have two options. Option A is simple enough. We just do what we have been doing. Meaning we activate our distress signal and bunker down here until we can contact HQ and secure a pick up. Normally this would be the best option but. The problem with this plan is that the surface is currently covered with Covenant forces. Which means most of our forces including most of our ships will be busy dealing with them so a pick up could take awhile. And to make matters worse it also means that we run a much higher risk of being attacked the longer we stay out in the open like this. Lastly if all that was not bad enough, this is Grimm territory. So this area is just that much more dangerous.”

“Grimm?” Chief inquired with a hint of confusion in his voice.

“Oh ya, you wouldn’t know about them would you?” Ruby asked causing Chief to simply shake his head. “The Grimm is the name we have given to a type of parasite that has infected the local wildlife around here.”

Cortana noticed that Chief’s heart rate increased and the grip he had on his rifle tighten at the mention of the word parasite. “Could he be remembering our run in with the flood? It seems John hasn’t forgotten about those nasty creatures and I can’t say I blame him. I spent more then enough time with the Grave Mind to know how terrifying they can be.” She thought to herself.

“These Grimm, are they a threat?” Chief asked in a very serious tone.

Ruby cleared her throat before speaking. “Their… manageable but they shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you are going to fight them you need to know what they really are. Like we mentioned before the Grimm are parasite and like all parasites they live by feeding off their host but. Unlike most parasites, Grimm’s food of choice is bone marrow. When it finds a host what it normally does is latch onto its spinal cord and begins to take control of its nervasystem and once it does that it slowly works its way into the brain. After it gains control of the brain it starts to repurpose just about everything it can in to creating calcium. It uses that calcium to make more bone to feed on. Of course the host is still alive and so it serves a dual purpose. By strengthening its hosts bone structure it also creates itself a protective armor and deadly weapons as its teeth and claws are also made stronger. It’s also important to know that Grimm are very aggressive and will attack just about anything with bones in their body. This also includes most of the Covenant with the acceptation of Hunters since they don’t have any bones to speak of.”

Chief nodded in acknowledgment while Cortana began to speak. “You mentioned wildlife earlier, are they able to infect humans?”

“No at least not that we know of. They don’t seem to have the ability to control any sentient life forms such as humans, faunus, and Covenant but. They do seem to be able to infect just about anything else weather it be a wolves, bears, birds, and even some fish.” Ruby responds.

“I see. If they can infect so many different animals how can we spot them? And if we do how do we kill them?” Chief asked in a slightly more relaxed tone.

“All Grimm have a few features that are shared between just about all of them. Firstly as the parasite steals nutrients from their host’s body its fur, scales, and or feathers tend to darken and lose their color. Also as they grow older more and more bones begin to sprout from the body but. Since the first thing they aim to spread is normally the brain most Grimm have a mask of bone covering their face.” Ruby stated.

“As for how to kill them, well about the same way as you would kill just about anything else. A few rounds into the head or heart tends to do it but. The best spot to insure a kill would be hitting them at the base of the spine where the parasite normally plants itself. With that said Grimm are very tricky to get rid of permanently since if you just kill the host body the parasite will go into a feeding frenzy. Basically devouring as much of the body as it can to fatten itself up until it can find a new host.” Yang chimed in.

“Ya, it wasn’t until recently that we were even able to figure this out. We have been trying to wipe the parasite out for years now but. Because of the body seeming to just fall apart after death they were very hard to study.” Weiss added.

“Alright, I think I have the idea. Now then, you mentioned there was a second option?” Chief asked.

Weiss nodded before beginning. “Option B is a bit risky but I think it’s the best option we have at the moment. We have a fully equipped Warthog along with a pair of Mongooses in our ships hold. I checked our GPS location and it seems we are about a 231 miles from Vale. Vale is one of the four largest cities on the planet and just so happens to be where our HQ is located. There couldn’t be a safer place for us to rest and we will be able to gather all of the supplies we could need to get Zwei back in working order. So what do you think Chief?”

“Sounds good, let’s get rolling.” Chief said as he motioned towards the ship causing everyone else to follow after him.

“Ya, road trip lets do this!” Yang cheered while throwing her arms up in the air in celebration causing the other members of their team to ether chuckle or groan.

////////////////////////////////////////////////

After making their way into the ship team RWBY and the Chief stopped by the armory to load up on all the equipment they would likely need for their trip. At this point Yang was back in her yellow dust powered armor suit and was busy loading a rocket launcher. After loading a fresh clip into his Battle Rifle the Chief turned towards Yang and began to speak. “Is that armor good to go?”

Before responding Yang swung the rocket launcher over her shoulder and shrugged. “Not really. Life supports still down but that shouldn’t be a problem now that we aren’t in a bloody vacuum. The bigger problem is that the heads up display is still very much broken but. I had enough dust left to refill it so its other features are at least partly function and that makes it far better than normal ODST combat gear. On that note here catch.” Yang says as she pulls a small hand gun like weapon off the wall and tosses it to the Chief.

Chief easy grabs it out of the air by the handle and begins to inspect it. “This is a Sticky Bomb Launcher?”

“Yep, Blake and I will be taking point on the Mongooses which means its up to you and Weiss-cream to look after my little sister. No telling what we are going to run into along the way so I figured we should be prepared for whatever.” Yang explained.

Chief nodded and connected the launcher along with several sticky bombs to his waist. “Thanks, and don’t worry she’s in good hands. With that said she doesn’t need protection”

“Thank you and I know she doesn’t but, I am her big sister so I can’t help but worry. I made a promise that I would look after her and I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to her.” She said in a slightly somber tone.

The pair then headed for the ships hold to meet up with the others who already had the vehicles prepped and ready to roll out. Blake nodded to them from her Mongoose and Yang quickly made her way to the Mongoose next to her. Weiss was stud next to the Warthog and Ruby was operating a control panel at the back of the ship. “Alright we should be already to go!” Ruby shouted as she pressed a button causing the back of the hold to open it up and create an exit ramp for them. After completing her task she ran back to the Warthog and hopped into the passenger seat. “Chief, Weiss says she doesn’t trust anyone else to drive so we figured you would want to handle the big gun for us.” Ruby said while motioning to the large turret gun mounted on the back of the Warthog.

Chief nodded and quickly made his way around the vehicle and hopped onto the back before grabbing onto the turret gun’s triggers. “That sounds good to me!”

“Alright friends I am setting waypoints to your huds now! Chief I have sent Cortana the coordinates as well so you should get them shortly.” Penny stated as markers appeared on each persons display expect for Yang’s of course.

“Alright are we good to go then?” Weiss asked as she glanced around the room. Everyone giving her a nod of their head she hopped into the driver seat of the Warthog and revved up the engine. She then glanced back at the turret and began to speak. “Hey Chief you may want to hold on tight!” She then slammed on the gas causing the tires to squeal and the vehicle to roar out of the hold and down the ramp and they were quickly followed by Blake and Yang on their Mongooses.

///////////////////////////////////////////////

After traveling for about an hour through the forest without major incident the group found themselves a little on edge. They could hear the sounds combat in the distance and could see the skies being over taken by massive combat vessels raining artillery down around them. “This is complete chaos!” Weiss shouted.

“No kidding and this is what it’s like when we are winning imagine if we didn’t have the Beacon to deal with their battleships.” Ruby responded.

“I would really rather not. We have already lived through that nightmare and I would rather not do so again thank you. With that said, I can’t stand not knowing what the situation is out there. Any luck getting a hold of HQ?” Weiss asked.

“Penny is working on it right now. She said she would get back to me if we got…” Ruby began before being cut off. “Speak of the devil hold on.”

“Friends we have a transmission from HQ! Shall I patch them through?!” She announced happily. Causing Ruby to stutter for a moment before glancing at Weiss who told her to stop spacing out and answer.

Ruby quickly pressed a button on her helmet to switch the receiver to speaker mode allowing the other members of her team and the Chief to hear. “Go ahead and patch us through Penny!” Moments later a new female voice came through Ruby’s helmet.

“Hello, this is Glynda Goodwitch. Is this team RWBY I am speaking to? Is everyone in you team alright?” The voice inquired.

“That’s right! Everyone is just fine but our ship has been disabled. We are currently on rout to Vale by Warthog and Mongoose. More importantly how are things out there!?”

“I am glad to hear that you are all alright. I am looking at your gps data now. It would explain why you are moving so slowly. Things are hectic out there at the moment so I am afraid there is not much I can do to help you but. Perhaps there is something you can do to help us.” Glynda continued.

“What’s up Glynda?” Ruby asks.

“You will be passing by farm area soon. The locals are currently in great danger and are in need of support. I sent team CFVY to deal with it but they are currently being held up by Covenant forces else where. If you can offer support to those people I will see what I can do about getting you back to base.”

“Roger that!” Ruby said as she turned to face Weiss and the Chief. “It looks like we have to take a little detour. Get ready to have a fight on your hands!”

At that moment Weiss pressed her hand to her ear as a transmission from Blake came in. “Weiss keep your eyes peeled there are Grimm closing in on us!” Weiss quickly looks around for a moment before she heard a loud howl of some sort and a huge black feather was shot down from the sky above planting itself in front of the Warthog. She screamed before rapidly turning the wheel to maneuver around it and the moment she does a large black wolf leapt out of the tree line directly in front of her. Rather than trying to drive around it she slams her foot on the gas and rams into the beast dragging it under her wheels and with two loud thuds the beast was throw out of the back and in a broken heap behind them.

“Was that a Grimm just now?” Chief asks.

“Ya that’s a type of Grimm we call Beowolves. When there is one, there are always more of them!” When Ruby said this Chief spotted something out the corner of his eye, several large black figures were moving through the woods around them.

“I think your right.” Chief said as he spun the turret around and its barrel began to spin. “Let’s give them a warm welcome shall we.” He then opened fire on the chasing shadows. The rounds ripped through the trees and the sound of cracking bones and angry roars followed soon after.

Weiss glanced upward before turning towards Ruby. “We have Nevermores incoming! I need you to lay down cover fire!”

“I got it!” Ruby said as she stud up in her seat with the barrel of her sniper-scythe pointing straight up into the sky. She soon spotted several huge dark birds with white bone masks covering their faces circling above them. Almost on queue one of them swooped down for an attack and found a hot round buried in its skull. The creature let out a deafening screech as it plummeted to the ground behind them.

Up ahead Blake and Yang were clearing as many Grimm out of their path as possible and using their higher mobility to their advantage by drawing the beasts away. “Come on this is too easy!” Yang said as she fired a shot gun burst into the face of one of the chasing Beowolves.

“Watch yourself Yang! Remember what happens when you drop your guard!” Blake snapped at her while unloading rounds from her Gamble Shroud into a pair of Beowolves in front of her. One of the wolves dropped down on the ground dead while the other stumbled backward only to be decapitated by Gamble Shroud’s blade as she passed. Blake then glanced up at the sky and back over to Yang. “Hey Yang do you hear that!?”

“Hear what?!” Yang said in a slightly confused manner before a Covenant Banshee screamed over head with a pair of Nevermores giving chase. “I guess the Covenant isn’t very good at making friends ether.” Yang said jokingly.

Blake’s eyes continued to follow the ship as it maneuver through the air and around the birds. It then launched a blast of green plasma striking one of the Grimm in the back causing it to let out a horrific screeching sound before falling from the sky. It then barrel out of the way as the second Grimm spun around and swung its wings towards its attacker launching its feathers like a volley of arrows. The Banshee then began to fire rapped plasma blasts striking the bird and burning off its wings sending it falling to the ground as well. It then refocused its sights on our heroes and activated it’s thrusters to catch up.

“Oh crap!” Blake shouted as she got on her intercom. “Guys we have incoming!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you expect Grimm to be in this story? Did you think it was an interesting explanation as to what they are? I would love to hear what you think on this topic.


	8. Homecoming Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Covenant is broken but far from beaten and the presence of the Grimm is not making it any easier for our troubled heroes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news bad news. The good news is that there is a new chapter out after a long time. The bad news is that its really long... oh wait I guess that's not really bad news. Oh well please enjoy and let me know what you think. Really I would like to hear whatever thoughts you have about the story so far. It really helps.

“What did you say?!” Yang shouted at her black armored partner riding on a Mongoose beside her before she clotheslined a Beowulf approaching them from the front. “I didn’t catch that!”

“I said we have incoming!” She repeated while pointing backward toward a Covenant Banshee coming up on their small convoy.

Yang glanced back to see the Chief chasing it around the sky with his turret. “Oh crap! Don’t worry Blake I got this!” Yang said confidently before slamming on the breaks and spinning her Mongoose around.

“Wait what’s your plan!?” Blank tried to ask before Yang revved up her Mongoose causing it to pop a wheelie and speed off back towards their team’s Warthog.

On Yang’s approach she spotted the Grimm she had clotheslined only moments earlier struggling back onto its feet. “Still got some fight left in you huh? Well then how about this!” She shouted before pulling a shotgun out from behind her back and blasting the Grimm directly in the spine on her way past it. “Boom, Nail it! Now then, it’s about time for the main event!” She gloated while returning the shotgun to her back and pulling out her Rocket Launcher. She then took aim at the fast approaching Banshee as it flipped and spun all over the place trying to evade Chiefs turret fire. “Dang it I can’t get a read on it!” She said before slamming on the breaks and turning back around as her teams Warthog cot up to her.

Weiss looked over at her rocket welding teammate from the driver seat of the Warthog and called out for her attention. “You know you can take that thing out any time!”

“I am working on it Weiss-cream! Just give me a minute would you!” Yang snapped back while taking aim at the Banshee once again. Once she got the Banshee into the crosshairs the rocket launcher began to peep signifying that its auto lock on feature had kicked in. “Alright target locked! Say good night sunshine!” She then squeezed the trigger jettisoning a rocket powered high explosive shell aim directly at her target.

In the cockpit of the Banshee sensors began to hiss and scream in an unrecognizable language causing the Elite Pilot to pull back on the controls and go into roll dodging out of the way of the rocket but. The rocket was far from through as it spun back around and continued its chase. The Banshees thrusters fired propelling it forward towards a group of incoming Nevermores. The Banshee shot past causing the rocket to slam into the nearest Grimm and exploding on impact, sending burnt feathers and scorched bone fragments flying in every direction. Seeing the special play out in front of her Weiss glanced back over to her yellow armored companion. “Nice shooting Tex, now do you think you could hit the Banshee this time!?”

“Hey at least I hit something! Maybe you could try to be a bit more helpful and give me a better angle on that thing!” Yang snapped back.

“You want my help fine!” Weiss scoffed before turning her head around to glance back at the Chief. “Hey Chief I need you to focus on taking out some of those Nevermores!” Chief cut down a wave of approaching Beowolves before nodding in agreement and turning his attention back towards the skies. Weiss then turned to her red clad leader. “Ruby I need you to take the wheel for a moment!”

“Wait what!?” Ruby asked before Weiss pulled her sword from her side and jammed it into the gas petal and released a burst of liquid nitrogen freezing it in the on position before standing up from her seat and leaping from the Warthog. “Dang it Weiss!” Ruby screamed as she scrambled to grab hold of the wheel before they ran off the road and crashed into a tree.

Weiss now air born fired her thruster boots propelling her forward and landing onto the back of Yang’s Mongoose. “Welcome on board princess.” Yang said jokingly.

Weiss simply rolled her eyes and stud up on the back of the Mongoose. “Dust Overdrive!” She shouted causing her suit to glow and her. She then fired her thrusters jumping over Yang and onto the ground ahead of her before slamming her sword into the ground and on queue her sword along with her whole suit began spraying liquid nitrogen onto the ground creating an icy ramp. When Yang’s Mongoose hit the ramp it was sent flying into the air and Weiss fired her thrusters again to leap up and grab hold of the bottom of the Mongoose to ride up along with it. Once air born they were directly in front of the Banshee. “There is your target! Now take it out!” Weiss shouted.

“Roger!” Yang responded as she took aim with her rocket launcher. Noticing them the Banshee opened fire sending balls of white hot plasma their way. In response Weiss spun the barrel of her sword causing it to glow red and began swinging it rapidly with each swing deflecting a plasma blast until finally Yang’s rockets locked and released. The rocket shot out of the barrel and went straight into the front of the Banshee causing it erupt in a fireball and spin out of control. It continued its death spiral until it slammed into the ground below directly in front of their Warthog causing Ruby to spin the wheel frantically to maneuver out of the way. “Ya, we got him!” Yang cheered.

Weiss gave Yang a thumbs up before leaping from the Mongoose propelling herself back down towards the ground firing nitrogen along the way to create a ramp for Yang to ride back down on. Weiss then stepped out of the way as Yang landed and reached out a hand to grab onto the Warthog just as it pasted to pull herself back into the drivers seat. “Thanks for keeping the seat warm for me Ruby.” Weiss said jokingly as she grabbed onto the wheel.

“Never… do… that… again!” Ruby said in a huff.

“You guys are as reckless as ever!” Blake said as she slowed her speed to allow her team to catch up to her.

“Hey we took it out, that’s all that matters!” Yang responded.

“True I guess but, what about our main objective!? Don’t we have some farms to protect!?” Blake added.

“Guys don’t worry we are almost there! As a matter of fact we should be able to see them soon!” Ruby responded before they came up on a four way road crossing. And the sounds of battle began to draw closer and closer as a several civilian vehicles along with a small handful of Warthogs some by with set of Banshee’s hot on their tail. One of the Banshee’s swoops down and launches a green plasma bomb directly at one of the Warthogs. The Warthogs gun leaps from the vehicle just in time to avoid the impact and explosion that followed. And the Banshee continued after the other vehicles.

The team came to a complete stop as Blake jumped off her Mongoose and ran to the downed soldier’s aid. “Are you alright!?” She asked as she began checking his vitals. Suddenly the soldier began to groan and pull himself up into a sitting position. “Hey take it easy, are you alright? What is the situation?” She said calmly.

“I’m fine but where’s Jimmy and Sera!?” He shouted causing Blake and the gang to glance over at the flaming wreckage of their Warthog. The expression of the soldier went from shock, to horror, and then to rage as he swore under his breath before pulling the helmet off of his head revealing a set of dog like ears and pelting it at a near by tree. “This is the sergeant’s fault! We were told to start getting everyone out an hour ago and what does he do?! He just says ‘don’t worry we are safe here, besides it’s mostly faunus in this area anyway’ racist prick!”

Blake reached over and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder to comfort him. “I understand how you feel but. We have to remain calm. There are still people out there who need protection. Now is this area cleared?”

The soldier shook his head. “We didn’t have enough room for everyone. So a lot of people are still back there and only one squad elected to stay behind to wait for back up. I heard they sent team CFVY but they got held up by the enemy. If they don’t get reinforcements soon they won’t hold out for long. Not with how many of them there are.” The soldier stated.

“Well it’s a good thing we are here then!” Yang stated while slamming her fists together.

Blake nodded to her yellow armored companions and turned back to the soldier. “That’s right, we are team RWBY and we are here to offer our support.”

“Well don’t let me hold you up then, get going!” The soldier barked causing Weiss to nod and drive off ahead of them.

Yang also revved up her Mongoose and waited for her partner. “You coming Blake?” She inquired.

Blake waved her partner off. “I can’t just leave you here.” She said to the soldier.

The soldier chuckled slightly. “Well I am not heading back there and besides…” His voiced turned somber as he turned towards the burning Warthog. “I can’t just leave them like that.”

Blake nodded and turned to walk back to her Mongoose but by past it and sat on the back of Yang’s instead. Causing Yang glance back at her and tilt her head to show her confusion. “I will leave you my Mongoose. You should get out of here and regroup with the rest of your squad as soon as you can!”

“Roger that! And good hunting ladies!” The soldier shot back while giving a salute which Blake and Yang returned.

“You too!” Blake said as she tapped Yang on the shoulder and told her to get a move on. Yang nodded and the pair sped off into the distance. While the soldier watched them go.

The soldier then made his way back towards his twisted Warthog and reached under it. He gripped onto something and pulled out a set of dog tags. As he inspected the slightly warped tags he lowered his head in defeat. He stud there silently for nearly a minute before the sound of angry growls filled his ears. He spun around to see a wounded Beowulf hobbling towards him. “Crap!” He shouted before reaching for his gun only to realize he had left it on the ground where he landed and the Grimm was now between him and his weapon. He then drew his combat Knife and readied himself for the Grimm to attack. “It’s just the one and it’s injured. Calm down and remember your training.” He told himself right before the Beowulf leaped at him. Before the soldier could even react to the Beowulf’s attack it cot two bullets in the head and its lifeless body slammed into him knocking him to the ground. “What the heck just happened!?” He shouted before glancing over to see a female soldier limping towards him with her gun drawn. “Sera!?”

“Hey Cody, you green?” The girl asked.

The soldier pushed the Grimm off his body and rushed to his feet. “Ya I’m fine but what about you!? I thought you were…” He began before glancing back over to the wreckage.

“I got lucky, I was thrown from the hog when the plasma bomb hit. A tree over there and I got to know each other a bit too well though.” She said while motioning towards the tree line behind her. She then refocused on the wreckage and shook her head. “Now let’s get Jimmy out of there.”

“Yes ma’am!” Cody shouted as he and his comrade went to work lifting the vehicle.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Meanwhile Ruby, Weiss, and the Chief had just drove the Warthog down the road that the small convoy had just came from and through an opening in the tree line. Once through they came upon a chaotic scene. A wide open area of burning fields and crumbling buildings was laid out before them. Covenant Banshees circled over head and many Covenant ground forces could be seen scattered across the expanse. Weiss shook her head as her grip on the wheel tightened. “This is horrible! Are we too late?!” She shouted.

Ruby and the Chief both took a moment to take in their surroundings. Hostiles were everywhere and cover was scarce. Most of the fields were ether on fire or already completely destroyed and most the buildings were in no better shape but there was one structure that stud out to them. A large curved structure made of a smooth reflective metal and it towered over the landscape. Several Covenant Banshees could be seen circling around it and the sound of rifle fire could be heard from its direction. Chief’s helmet then began to hum as Cortana’s voice came over its speakers. “That building, it seems to be Forerunner. I detect multiple heat signatures that I believe to be human in side. There are also many more heat signatures in the surrounding area which seem to be hostiles.” She chimed in.

“Roger that Cortana.” Chief responded before pointing towards the Forerunner structure in the distance. “That must be where your people are hold up.” Weiss and Ruby nodded in an agreement. “It was smart thinking, the Covenant wouldn’t risk destroying any Forerunner artifacts. So they have forced them into a bottleneck.”

“Well then should we pay them a little visit then?” Ruby asks while drawing her weapon from its holster and pulling back the bolt to eject a spent casing and load in a fresh one.

Then the group heard the sound of an engine coming up behind them causing them to turn and spot Yang speeding towards them. Yang then waved to get their attention. “You guys getting ready to fight!? Not without us you aren’t!” She shouted as she sped up next to them on her Mongoose.

Weiss and the Chief nodded while Ruby returned wave. “Hey Yang what took you so long!?” Ruby shouted before glancing over to see Blake riding behind her sister. Noticing Ruby’s stare Blake gave her an awkward wave. “Blake, what happened to your Mongoose?” Ruby inquired.

“Somebody needed it more then I did, so I left it.” Blake responded in a matter of fact tone. “Now then are we doing this or what?” She asked while drawing her own weapon.

“Umm I don’t think we will have much of an option guys.” Weiss stated before pointing forward towards a large group of approaching Covenant. “I think they spotted us!” The groups gaze sprang forward to see a large ball of plasma get launched up into the air before it arched down towards their location.

“They have Wraiths, everyone take evasive maneuvers!” Ruby shouted causing Weiss and Yang to slam on the gas and speed away into the clearing and through a touched field as wave of plasma blasts vaporized the ground around where they had just been. And several more mortar blasts shot up into the air along with a pact of Banshees before flying towards them. “Keep going guys!” She shouted while they continued to evade a bath in plasma but. They were soon stock by plasma shots from every side as Elites, Grunts, and Jackals swarmed in from every direction. “Chief cover fire!” Ruby shouted while Chief was already revving up the turret and taking aim. Chief pulled the triggers unleashing a storm of hot metal that ripped through three Grunts and blowing away the shield of the Elite leading them before said Elite took a dust pact rifle round to the chest. Ruby focused her gaze forward to see a pair of Hunters blocking their path. “Weiss, their too tough we need to go around them!” She commanded.

“Why go around when we can go over!” Weiss responded before jumping out of her seat and onto the hood of course causing Ruby to jump over and grab hold of the wheel again. Weiss then activated her overdrive and froze the ground under their wheels to create a ramp sending them over the Hunters. And as they landed Chief unloaded a into one of their faces causing it to fall over and before it could get up a Wraith mortar blast landed on top of it blowing it apart and sending the second Hunter flying through the wall of a nearby house causing the whole thing to collapse on top of it. 

Watching all this play out Yang began to crack up until a plasma blast whizzed past her helmet. Causing her to glanced back to see a set of Ghosts chasing behind them. She then heard the familiar hiss of Plasma grenades causing her gaze to shoot for to see a Grunt holding a pair of lit plasma grenades blocking their path ahead. “Blake, want to see if that Ghost knows how to catch!?” She asked causing Blake to chuckle before flinging her weapon forward and activating its thrusters causing it to impale itself into the Grunts chest. She then pulled back on the strap connecting herself to the weapon slinging it and the Grunt over their heads before slamming it down on top of the chasing Ghost. The plasma grenades detonated and taking out the Ghost and sending Blake’s flying back to its rightful owner. “That’s my Kitty Cat!” Yang gloated before glancing up at group of fast approaching Banshees. Within moments the Banshees were bearing down on them raining blasts of hot plasma energy on top of them.

“We have to take out their air support.” Chief stated while unloading nearly a whole strip of turret rounds into the nearest Banshee causing its shields to flicker as a solid stream of metal slugs slipped through and turned the cockpit into Swiss cheese. The Banshee then burst into flame and plummeted out of the sky. “That’s one down.”

“Good shooting!” Yang shouted.

Then Blake chimed in. “We will draw their attention!” She then pulled the rocket launcher from Yang’s back and pointed it towards the nearest enemy. The rocket began to beep as it locked in the target but then she was shaken as Yang sped up to ram into a Grunt and dodge out of the way of a Wraith shot. “Hey, do you think you could you keep it steady?!” Blake complained.  
“Hey you want to drive!” Yang shot back causing Blake to roll her eyes and refocus on the task at hand. Within a few seconds she was back on target and it locked in and Blake instantly squeezed the trigger. The rocket shot out of the barrel and zoomed across the skies towards its intended target. The Banshee fired its thrusters to increase its speed and swooped upward out of the rockets path then spun back around down towards Blake and Yang with the rocket still on its tail. Noticing this Chief took aim and unloaded another strip into the wing of the Banshee blowing off its right thruster and sending it into a spin giving the rocket ample time to find its mark and turn it into a fireworks display.

The Covenant was far from finished though as another Banshee targeted the Warthog and fired off a blast of green plasma. “Crap, hold on everyone!” Ruby shouted before transforming her weapon into scythe mode and slamming the blade into the ground allowing them pivot the Warthog around it and pull off a 180 degree turn. The blast slammed into the ground behind them as they zoomed underneath the Banshees. Half of the Banshees broke off to continue chasing the Warthog while the rest remained focused on Blake and Yang.

Blake locked onto another Banshee and fired the rocket only this time landing a direct hit and blowing another Banshee out of the sky. She then turned back towards her partner. “Do you have anymore rockets I’m out!?”

Yang shook her head. “Sorry that’s all I had left.” She then glanced back towards the two Banshees still following them and added. “I think we are going to need a new tactic!”

“I think your right!” Blake said as she tossed the emptied rocket aside and began scanning the area for an answer and it came to her in the form of a large near by tree standing in between the fields. “Yang, I need you to get us to that tree!” She shouted while pointing out their objective. Yang shot Blake the thumbs up and sped off towards the tree. While on the way Blake drew Gamble Shroud and began unloading rounds into the nearest Banshee causing its shields to flicker but to little effect other then to egg them on. “That’s right come get us!” She shouted.

Yang then glanced over towards the main Covenant force to see a Wraith mortar blast heading right for the tree. “Blake we have incoming!” She warned.

“Keep going!” She shouted causing Yang to give the Mongoose all the gas she could give it until they had made it under the tree. And once they had Blake quickly went to work by grabbing onto Gamble Shroud’s strap and chucking it up to the nearest branch and using it to swing herself up on top of it. She then proceeded to fire her thrusters to hop up several more branches before leaping from the tree just as the mortar struck it and landing on the wing of the nearest Banshee. The Banshee jerked as it moved to avoid the falling tree and she used that momentum to fling herself on top of the cockpit. Noticing his unwanted passenger the Banshee pilot began to rock the craft back and forth in an attempt to buck her off. Blake was not detoured as she jammed the blade of her weapon into the top of the Banshee to hold herself in place.

“Blake, watch your back!” Yang yelled while the second Banshee closed in behind her and the Banshee she was assaulting. It then charged up and fired a blast of green plasma at the both of them. Blake pulled her blade from the Banshee just as it was struck. The blast ripped the Banshee apart and sending its pieces flying in every direction while Blake seemed to vanish into thin air. “Blake, where are you!?” Yang shouted catching the Banshee’s attention and causing it to refocus on her before dive bombing towards the surface firing rapid plasma blasts along the way. Yang gunned it and narrowly avoided getting roasted as several blasts grazed her armor and caused its shields to flicker. “Blake come on, where did you go!”

“Don’t worry I got this!” Blake shouted back at her blond partner as the air above the Banshee began to warp and flicker revealing the black clad scavenger on top of it. She then began pounding on the cockpit of the vehicle until its locks failed allowing her to pop it open. She then reached in side and pulled an angry and confused Elite right out of it before dropping him down to the ground below. The Elite roared in anger until it slammed onto the dirt below with an echoing thud. She then climbing into the cockpit herself and closed it behind her. She then pulled on the controls causing the Banshee to pull up before firing its thrusters, causing her to shot back into the sky and towards her allies who were still locked in combat.

Yang watched on from the ground in amazement. “Dang that girl is tough. She must get it from me.” She said to herself. Then the sound of movement caused her to jerk her head back and forth searching for the source. Several Ghosts were speeding towards her location and following behind them were several Elites with Grunt squads in toe. Instinctively her hand shot up to her helmet only to remember that her radio was still quite broken. “Oh right, crap!” She then slammed on the gas and sped off towards her teammates with the Ghosts hot on the tail.

While on the way she had to dodge around several mortar shots but was quickly catching up to her teammates until a Ghost came out of seemingly no where and cut her off. Yang tried to turn to avoid it but the Elite driving it pulled out a Plasma Pistol and blasted her engine. The plasma energy created an electromagnetic pulse causing the engine to completely cut off and causing Yang to lose control. Her Mongoose slammed into the side of the Ghost casing her to ramp off of it, flip in the air and plummet back down to the ground head first. Yang was thrown from the Mongoose on impact and was sent rolling across the ground. Yang noticed the Ghost speeding towards her and fired her thrusters to help get back onto her feet. She then put her arms out in front of her face to block the incoming plasma round of the Ghost and leapt forward over its hood and slamming her fist into the Elites face knocking him off of the Ghost. She then spun around and planted herself in the driver seat. She quickly looked over the controls. “Alright it’s been awhile since I used one of these things but it’s like riding a bike right?” She asked herself before grabbing the controls and speeding away.

/////////////////////////////////////////

Meanwhile Chief was unloading rounds into the Banshees giving them chase. Finally one of their shields failed and several round punched through causing it to hiss and spark but. The turret suddenly seized up as an immense amount of heat and smoke began pouring out of it. “It’s over heated! Ruby take it down!” she shouted back towards the head of the Warthog where Weiss and Ruby were still sat.

Ruby had been taking out near by ground troops before hearing Chief’s call. She spun around and aimed her sights at the sparking Banshee. “Roger that!” She shouted as she fired round after round into it with each one punch clean through its shell until one finally embedded itself into the head of the pilot causing the craft to drop out of the sky on top of a group of Grunts and crushing them.

Then Chief got to work on the last of their flying opponent’s by pulling the Battle Rifle from his back and unloading one burst after another into it causing the shields to flicker. The Banshee rolled in the air and fired a bomb down in front of them. “Weiss hit the breaks!” Chief shouted causing the white clad warrior to follow suit and the blast struck right in front of them. The shock wave caused the Warthog to be blown upward and roll over throwing everyone out. The Banshee then began firing down at them and they quickly dunked behind their flipped Warthog for cover. The Banshee glided across the sky to get a better angle only to be blasted from behind by another Banshee bomb. Its shields hissed and failed as it began to catch fire. Chief glanced over to second Banshee heading their way. “Is that one of ours!?” Chief inquired.

Ruby glanced over and spotted a familiar tag in her heads up display. “It’s Blake, she must have hijacked it!” Ruby stated with excitement in her voice.

Chief nodded before reaching down to his side for his Sticky Bomb Launcher. “Well then let’s make use of it!” He stated before jumping out of cover and taking aim on the distracted Banshee. He pulled the trigger firing the bomb into the air and planting it right on the side of the air craft. He then pulled the trigger again casing the bomb to detonate blowing the Banshee to pieces. Blake then barreled out of the way of an incoming Wraith mortar shot and fired her thrusters causing her to speed towards the approaching horde of ground forces blasting several away with a burst of plasma energy. Chief then pulled out another sticky bomb and jammed it onto the end of his launcher and turned back towards the rest of team RWBY. “It looks like she is buying us some time but. This location will be compromised soon. We have to take out those Wraiths and regroup with your people!”

Both Weiss and Ruby nodded in agreement before they both noticed a mortar heading right for them. “We got to bail now!” She shouted causing them all to scramble to put distance between themselves and the impact zone but before Weiss could get clear her shields flared and she was knocked to the ground when a foil rod blast went off next to her.

“What in the name!?” Weiss hissed as she struggled to get back on her feet and spotted an unusually angry Hunter rushing towards her.

Weiss began to move but lost her balance when she felt a sharp pain shoot through her leg. She quickly glanced down to see plasma needle buried in her leg and blood seeping from the wound. She pulled the needle out and began to move again but panic was beginning to set in as she stumbled once more and the Hunter was nearly on top of her. When the Hunter lifted up its arm to strike her it cot a hot slot in the side of its face causing it to stumble slightly then a volley of plasma blasts followed until a Ghost slammed into its side and Weiss was grabbed by the arm and pulled onto the Ghost as it past. Regaining her composure Weiss realized she had just been saved by her Blond hair companion Yang. She then glanced back at the place she was just stand to see the mortar blast had already stuck and had vaporized both the Hunter and their Warthog. “Hey snowflake you miss me?” Yang gloated.

“Oh shove off, I can handle myself thank you.” Weiss huffed causing Yang to chuckle while they drove up to their companions.

“I got you guys some ice cream while I was out! They only had vanilla though so you guys will have to make do.” Yang said jokingly while shoving Weiss off the Ghost.

“Yang, where did you come from? Where did you get the Ghost?” Ruby asked.

Yang let out a light hearted chuckle while rubbing the back of her neck. “Well I borrowed it from them after they blow up my mongoose.” She said while motioning towards a large ground of angry enemies heading towards them. At this point they were surrounded on just about every side.

“This isn’t going to be easy is it?” Ruby asked.

“Our chances of victory are about 33.3% friends.” Penny chimed in while appearing on Ruby’s shoulder.

“What do you think Cortana?” Chief asked.

“Those odds are much better then what we normally get.” She responded.

“Alright then we know what we got to do!” Yang said as she pounded her fists together. Then a Banshee fell out of the sky and crashed into the ground near by while their black clad teammate rolled onto the ground next to them. She quickly jumped to her feet and dusted herself off. “Oh hey Blake! Oh did your trip go?”

“If you are going to make some kind of falling joke then spare us. And I managed to take out one of their Wraiths but they still have two more.” She stated.

“Guys the time for small talk is about over! They will be on top of us any moment!” Weiss warned.

“Then let’s do this!” Yang stated causing them all to nod in agreement. Chief pulled out his Battle Rifle and loaded a fresh clip into while the other girls loaded fresh dust rounds into their own weapons. “Alright Ruby I will have your back!” Yang said as she glanced at her sister.

Ruby nodded to Yang before changing forward and firing her thrusters. “Dust Overdrive!” She roared causing her armor to release a bright red glow and her thrusters to fire wildly propelling her forward at blinding speed. With in seconds she directly in front of the enemy and she swung her scythe in an arch cutting apart several Grunts before the Elite leading them could fire back on her she seemed to vanish in a blur before hacking off its arm and reappearing behind it. The Elite reeled back in pain griping it’s bloody numb before getting rammed and sucked under Yang’s Ghost. Ruby hopped up into the air onto the back of her Ghost and Yang accelerated firing her plasma blasters while Ruby hacked down several more Covenant enemies along the way.

Then an enemy Ghost came up on their right side. “Ruby on our right!” Yang shouted causing her sister to leap from their Ghost and land on top of the enemies. The Grunt pilot screamed in surprise before getting beheaded by the red clad scythe wielder. The dead Grunt’s body slummed down on the controls and caused the Ghosts thrusters to fire sending the vehicle spiraling out of control. Ruby simple grabbed on tight and extended her scythe effectively becoming a human blender ripping everything and everyone who got close to pieces.

In the mean time Chief along with Blake and Weiss were charging through their forces. They were gunning down anything that got in their way. At least until a particularly angry Hunter jumped out in front of them and took a swing at the Chief. Stepped back as the Hunter slammed its shielded fist down into the ground in front of him. Then fired a three round burst into the beasts head causing it to flinch and he used the chance to leap onto its shoulder and jump over it firing two more burst into the heads of a few near by Jackals before landing with a roll. The Hunter spun around to give chase only for Weiss to cram her blade into the soft spot on its back. The Hunter howled as Weiss armor began to glow and ice crystals shot out around its wound and quickly encased its body.

Weiss pulled her blade from the Hunter and fired her thruster boots to catch up to the Chief and Blake who was dancing around a pair of Elites stabbing and slashing them while they swung their energy swords around in angry frustration. Weiss noticed a plasma rifle attached to one of their hips and snatched it before blasting the Elite in the head with its own weapon. The second Elite glanced over just in time to see its comrade drop and for Blake to appear behind it and slice open its chest. They nodded at each other before glancing towards Chief who was now closing in on one of the Wraith Tanks. He dodged out of the way as a mortar shot nearly vaporized him and took out several of their own in friendly fire. He then leveled his Battle Rifle and in loaded four bursts into the head of an Elite charging towards with a sword causing its shields to flicker until a round pushes through its skull and drops it. Chief glances down at this ammo indicated and it reads 00 so he returns it to his back and catches the sword as the Elite falls over and counties his charge towards the Wraith slashing through several Grunts along the way.

Finally the Chief is within a few feet of the Wraith and Grunt pops out of the Wraith and hops onto its mounted Plasma turret before firing at the Chief. He quickly rolls out of the way and draws his Sticky Bomb Launcher and plants one right into Grunts forehead causing him to reel back and fall into the Cockpit. Chief pulls the trigger again causing the Wraith to explode from the inside. He then turns back towards the other Wraith to see Yang on top of it with her armor glowing so bright it looked like it was on fire and she was latterly pummeling it into submission. He then glanced around to see the other members of team RWBY clearing out enemies with swift, deadly, precision that he had come to only expected from Spartans. It was impressive to say the least but all of their armors were glowing intensely now, so he knew they couldn’t hold out. He then glanced behind himself to see the forerunner structure and he could see several human soldiers peaking out from different vantage points and taking pot shots at the Covenant while the main entrance had several men posted gunning down every Covenant that got close. “Cortana patch me through to Ruby!” He said into his helmet.

“Roger that Chief!” Cortana responded before a scrambled hiss came over Chief’s radio. “You’re through!”

“Ruby we have reached our objective lets fall back inside!” Chief shouted.

“Roger that!” She shouted before nodding to her other teammates and they all pushed their way through the horde and headed for cover inside the building just as several drop ships appeared in the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope to see you next time.


	9. Call in the Calvary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think the title says it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a bit of a delay on this chapter for a few reasons. I have been working on a lot of different stuff lately and figured I found a good place to stop for awhile but. I can leave it for too long so here you go, Please remember to like and comment. Your feedback means a lot to me.

**Planet Remnant Forerunner Installation 0360**

A single squad of white armored marines found themselves stationed around the Forerunner installations narrow main entrance with their rifles level and at the ready. They had been holding this position for what had to seem like hours and the pile of Covenant bodies lining the small passageway heavily supported this idea.

They have been fighting valiantly to protect the few dozen civilians who they hadn’t been able to evacuate with the rest of them but. It was becoming more and more clear to them that they wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. Their squad has already been cut down to half its original size and their ammo was running desperately low. So much so that those who knew how to use them had already begun to collect and use the Covenant weapons from their fallen enemies but. For most of them though that wasn’t much of an option and they had to just make do with what little ammo they had.

At the moment a strange and slightly unsettling stillness had set in around them. Even though the sounds of battle still waged outside the walls of the Installation, for the most part the last few minutes had been rather tame. Only a small handful of Covenant troops had tried to breach their line and of course none of them had proven very successful in their attempts. With that said they have had a few close calls with a couple Elites that were using their cloaking devices to catch them off guard but. Luckily for them long glowing plasma swords don’t make for the best stealth weapons.

Becoming concerned with the prolonged silence one of the marines lowered his rifle and turned towards his commanding officer. “What do you think is going on out there sir?”

The officer in question gave the marine an incredulous look before refocusing on the passageway. “And how would I know?! This place doesn’t even have windows. Do you think I can I see through walls soldier?”  
“Well shouldn’t we check things out?” The marine asked.

The officer let out a long sigh before responding. “We can’t leave this position unprotected and it’s too risky to send anyone alone.”

“Man this sucks! Where the hell is team CFVY!? They were supposed to be here already!” Another marine complained.

“It seems like command lost contact with team CFVY a short time ago. They said they were sending another team to offer us support but I haven’t heard anything since.” The officer responded.

“Wait lost contact, what does that mean? Are they alright?! And for that matter are we going to be alright?! Who are they sending now?!” The second marine ranted.

“Shut it soldier! I’ve told you what I know now we got our mission and I need you to focus on it! The moment you let down your guard is the moment when…” The officer corrected before he head what sounded like screaming coming from outside. “What was that?” He asked causing the ground to all jump back into combat positions.

In the distance they started to hear the sounds of screaming Covenant. It isn’t clear if it’s in pain or rage and they suppose it could be both but. If the Covenant is having a hard time then that’s good news for them. “It sounds like they are under attack! Do you think it’s CFVY?!” One of the marines asked.

Before anyone could respond they head the sound of heavily armored boots clanking on the metal floor of the forerunner structure. The footsteps were far too heavy to be that of normal marines which set off metal alarms. Each soldier who wasn’t doing so already leveled their rifle down the hall waiting for any sigh of what they expect to ether be covenant Elites or Hunters.

Another moment of painful anticipation later and their targets came into view. From around the corner came sprinting a group of five figures dressed in heavy colorful armor. The marines quickly shot out from cover and leveled their weapons at them but their targets had already put their arms up into the air in surrender.

“Stand down, their friendly!” The commanding officer shouted before stepping out of cover to meet them. The other marines were instantly hit with an overwhelming sense of relief when they recognized the figures standing before them to be none other than the members of team RWBY but. Then they were hit with a sense of confusion. There was something amiss. There was a fifth head amongst the team of four, or rather above the head was above the group.

“We found them! Hey we’ve come to assist in the evacuation!” Ruby cheered as she waved at the approaching officer.

The officer stopped in front of them and offered the small leader a nod. “I can’t tell you how glad we are to see you. After we lost contact with CFVY I thought we were done for. With that said,” He began as he glanced up at the towering green armored soldier between the girls. “Care to tell me what a Spartan is doing here on Remnant?”

“Oh, umm you see its kind of a long story…” Ruby tried to explain before being cut off by her sister.

“We found him!” Yang announced cheerfully.

“You found him?” The officer asked while crossing his arms. “You do realize that he’s a Spartan. He’s a soldier, not a piece of equipment or a stray animal!” The officer lectured causing Ruby and Yang to wince.

“Is there a problem?” Chief asked.

The officer glanced up at the green armored Spartan and let out a sigh. “Sorry mister?”

“Spartan-117 Master Chief.” Chief responded.

The officer’s eyes widened for a moment after realizing who he’s been speaking to before quickly returning to a normal squint. “Don’t get me wrong Chief, I’ve heard of you and it’s an honor to meet some one with such a decorated service record. And I assure you were all happy to have a Spartan here to assist us but. As you may have heard, our planet is no long affiliated with Earth and its military. And as such that means we have our own rules and their fairly clear. Unauthorized UNSC and ONNI personal aren’t permitted to step foot on Remnant. The brass is going to tan your hides for bringing you here.”

Chief took a moment to consider this information before turning towards Ruby. “Is this true?” He asked her.

Ruby gave him a quick nod. “Normally that’s the case but we couldn’t just leave you there. And with the Covenant close behind us we couldn’t really wait to get approval ether. Don’t worry though, as captain it’s my responsibility to take. And I highly doubt they’re willing to try an arrest a Spartan.”

“That’s right and it will be especially true after we save day!” Yang Chimes in.

“Save the day? Need I remind you that it is partly our fault the Covenant attacked in the first place!?” Weiss augured.

“Our options were rather limited. If we had jumped elsewhere they would have over taken us and we would have risked our AIs falling into their hands.” Blake reasoned.

“Anyway what’s done is done. Right now we need to focus on helping whoever we can.” Ruby stated.

Chief nods in understanding before turning back towards the officer. “So where are those civilians?”

“We have them held up on the upper floor. It’s a good thing these split jaws care so much about their artifacts or we would have been bombarded to ash by now.” The officer responded.

“How many of them are there?” Chief inquired.

“Twenty-five heads in total, mostly male and mostly faunus. If we could get a clear path we could make a break for it.” The officer responded.

“A clear path huh, easier said then done it seems.” Ruby cuts in.

“Indeed it was a battle for us just to get in here.” Weiss adds.

“Well we did put a fairly hefty dent in their forces so maybe we could at least draw the rest of them away long enough for the civilians to make their escape.” Blake suggested.

“That is an option but…” Ruby began but was interrupted when he motion censors went crazy. “AHHH! Penny what’s happening!?”

“I have picked up several Covenant drop ships entering the area Ruby.” Penny responded.

“What, how many!?” Ruby inquired.

In response to Ruby’s question Cortana flickered into existence beside the Chief and began to address her. “Please allow me. I have identified six Covenant drop ships. There are four Phantom class ships and two Spirit class ships.

“Alright, looks like we have a change of plan. We will assist you in holding this position until reinforcements arrive.” Chief declared as loaded a new clip into this Battle Rifle.

“Let’s just hope help is still coming!” Ruby shouted as she unfolded her sniper-scythe and took up a defensive position.

“You guys worry too much! Its team CFVY we’re talking about they will be fine!” Yang remarked as she stepped out into the middle of the hall and slammed her firsts together. When she did a horde of Covenant appeared at the other end and began their charge. “That’s right boys, come and get us!”

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

**Planet Remnant Forever Fall Forest Several Miles From Installation 0360**

The forest gains its name sake from the fact that it seems to be trapped in a perpetual autumn. Its leaves are always dyed in a deep shade of red and endlessly raining down from the branches only for more to grow in their place just a few days later. Many would call this place strange or other worldly but it was no freak act of nature that had been causing the leaves to fall on this day. Rather it was a storm of hot plasma and gun fire.

For the last few hours the forest had been cot in the crossfire between the invading Covenant forces and one of Remnants deadliest scavenging teams. They are known simply as team CFVY. Now the forest is littered with fallen drop ships as well as both Covenant and Grimm corpses. Plasma burns and blood painted the earth for as far as the eye can see.

The only movement among the carnage was a single pelican drop ship coming in to land and a group of three heavily armed humans wearing dust powered armor walking towards the ship. The human leading the march was a young women wearing brown colored armor. She wielded a large metal suit case on her back and it was flanked by pair of Saw auto-rifles. Strapped to her waist she had a standard issue Magnum pistol and an empty combat knife holster. Once the girl is a few feet away from the drop ship she stops for a moment and glances to her right to see a dissolving Grimm Beowolf with a combat Knife buried in its eye socket. She reaches over and yanks the knife free before twirling it in her and slipping it into the empty holster at her waist. Then she glances back at the two people following behind her. A large man in tan armor who was pulling a massive metal sword free from the body of a Covenant Elite he had pinned to a tree. And a slightly shorter man in dark red armor with long curved blades built into the arms of the suit. The interesting thing about this boy’s armor was that it had no face visor or any kind, just another thick sheet of titanium. The girl stepped up onto the pelican before waving the other two forward. “Come on you guys, we still have work to do!” She shouted.

The other two men gowned as they filed in after her. The pilot of the ship another girl in brown armor with large extensions protruding from her helmet turned to glance back at her team. “Hey guys glad to see you all made it back in one piece.” She said jokingly.

The first girl walks up to the front of the ship and plops down in the copilot seat next to her. Then she reaches up to pull off her helmet revealing a light skinned girl with short brown hair. And she quickly pulls a pair of sunglasses out of seemingly no where and puts them on. Then she turns to pilot to speak. “Good to be back. So Velvet do those farms still need our support?” She inquired.

“Well HQ hasn’t retracted that order yet but has been trying to get into contact with us for awhile. I would have patched us through to them but I was too busy trying to dodge Banshee and Phantom fire and I assumed you guys were equally engaged.” Velvet said jokingly before moving her hands towards the controls. “Want me try to get them on the line?” Velvet asked.

The first girl nods and Velvet flips a few switches and presses a button activating their radio. “This is Coco Adel of team CFVY to HQ, come in HQ!” The girl says.

A moment passes of nothing but static and Coco was about to repeat herself until a hiss comes over the radio and a new female voice comes through it. “Miss Adel is that you!? Thank goodness you’re ok! What happened to you and your team?! When we lost commutation with you an hour ago we thought the worst may have happened!”

Coco chuckles to herself slightly before responding. “Oh relax Goodwitch! We’re all just fine, there were just.” Coco pauses for a moment to think of the right way to say it. “There were just so many of them. Anyway we’re back on track for the farming area. That is if they still need our support of course.”

Another moment of static passed before Goodwitch’s voice came through the again. “Good, we just got another transmission from the farming settlement. After we lost contact with you we sent in team RWBY to offer their support but the Covenant presence there was greater than we had thought. Also the remaining Covenant forces seem to be converging there as we speak. So team RWBY has and the survivors have taken up defensive positions inside the Forerunner Installation in that area.”

“So you want us to go in a clean up huh?” Coco asked.

“Sort of, there numbers are likely too great for your team to defeat on your own. So we will be sending more reinforcements when they become available but. In the mean time I want you and your team to do whatever you can to keep them busy.” Goodwitch clarified.

“Oh alright, is that everything Goodwitch?” Coco asks.

“Yes that’s everything?” Goowitch responds before hearing a loud popping sound. “Miss Adel, what was that?!”

“That’s good because we just made contact!” Coco shouts as the pelican jerks to the side to avoid plasma fire. Then Coco leaps out of her seat and makes her way to the back of the ship to meet with her other two teammates. Then she glances out of the back down to the ground below and spies the Forerunner Installation 0360 and a mass of Covenant forces swarming around it. And a smile quickly spreads across her face before being hidden as she jams her helmet into place. “Alright boys, lets go have some fun!” She shouts as she leaps off the ramp out of the ship and is quickly followed by her two male teammates.


	10. The Calvary has Arrived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coco and her crew are ready to party. Are the Covenant ready for them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woot its finally out, sorry for keep you guys waiting so long on this one but it wasn't an easy one to write. Combat heavy chapters are often like this since you take for granted how much space back and forth character dialog can fill up in you story. In a fight sense you have to constantly try to keep things moving and interesting. Its not easy but I hope I have achieved that here today.

From the moment her feet left the deck of their drop ship and she began her free fall, Coco Adel could feel the tell tale signs of an Adrenalin rush setting in. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and her muscles tensing up while time seemed to slow down around her. However as she watched the ground below her rapidly approaching, she felt no fear. Even though for all she knew it was just her and her team up against hundreds if not thousands of Covenant focuses she felt no uncertainty. Why you may ask? Well that's because this has always been what she lived for, what she signed up for, and what she would die for if the need for it ever arouse. Of course with all that said, she had no intention of dying just yet. No, rather the excitement she was feeling right now was better than any caffeine rush you could imagine and she wanted to feel it again and again and again until the end of time. So as far as she was concerned this was just the beginning and everything in between her and her next battle was just in her way.

Coco watched carefully as the Phantom class drop ships hovered below her and her teammates. She knew she couldn't leave those things in the air. Fighting them off from ground level would be far more difficult and Velvet her team's only air support had her own set of problems to deal with at the moment. So that left her with only one choice. She quickly flicked on her radio to call out to her teammates. "Alright boys we're starting with their air support. Pick your targets and show no mercy!"

"Roger that!" Both her teammates responded.

Then Coco quickly reached for one of the two Saw Auto-Rifles strapped to her back and brought it to the ready position right before she was about to fly past one of the Phantoms she fired her stabilization thrusters causing all of her momentum to come to a sudden and slightly vomit inducing end. When it did she found herself hanging in mid air right in front of the Phantom's side doors. Inside the drop ship were several very surprised and confused looking Grunts, Jackals, and even a few Elites who were now lifting their weapons towards her.

Coco felt a smile tugging at the edges of her mouth before she called out to them. "Hello boys just thought I would drop in!" She declared before taking aim and opening fire. Within a matter of seconds the Saw made true on its name sake by unleashing a stream of rounds so finely clustered together that they sliced through the enemies like a cutting tool. The whole first row of enemies was split into two distinct halves. And two of the three Elites that were stud in the center of the craft were also promptly cut down by the hot metal spray. Their shields crackled and fizzled out so quickly that if Coco had blinked she would've missed it entirely. Even for the few Jackals who had been lucky enough to have their arm mounted energy shields at the ready they didn't fair much better. By the time Coco had emptied her clip there was only a single Elite and two Grunts left standing in her way. The remaining Elite in the ships interior was just able to train his weapon on Coco before she had fired her thrusters again to launch herself shoulder first into the Elite. Her armored shoulder slammed into the Elite with such force that it knocked the Elite clean off its feet and sent it flying backwards out the opposite side of the ship and taking the two surviving Grunts out along with it.

Then Coco took a moment to eject her weapons spent ammo case and was about to reach for a replacement when she heard a few incomprehensible but yet very angry grunting sounds coming from her left side. The grunting sounds triggered her helmets built in automated translation program. "Die, demon!" She heard it play back to her causing her to spin around on the balls of her feet to see the only remaining enemy in the ship. It was a badly wounded Grunt lying on its back in a pool of purple blood and struggling to lift its Plasma Pistol towards her. Without a moments hesitation she used her free hand to draw her combat knife and with the flick of her wrist she planted it directly into the small alien's skull.

"Sorry you got the wrong person, I may be a bitch but I'm no demon." She stated before facing forward and looking out the other side of the ship she had sent the Elite flying out of. When she did she spotted a second Phantom drop ship hovering into position beside the ship she was on with its plasma turret trained on her location. Seemingly with no concerns about friendly fire the turret began to unleash its spray of hot plasma rounds in her direction. In response she quickly lifted up her left arm and opened her mouth to speak. "Dust Overdrive!" She shouted which caused her armor to begin emitting a bright orange glow before a large energy shield materialized from her left arm in between herself and the incoming plasma fire. When the plasma rounds made contact with the shield they began bounce off and litter the inside of the drop ship with small dents and scorch marks.

Of course this didn't dissuade any of the other Covenant forces from joining in with their own weapons. Coco herself was fairing just fine but her shield couldn't hold out forever so she needed to come up with a counter attack. Or at least she thought she did until she spotted the broken remains of a Spirit class drop ship plummeting out of the sky beside her attacks ship. The falling ship was completely split in two and she knew full well what had caused it. She quickly glanced upward to see her two teammates leaping off the falling ship to land on the one in front of her. Yatsuhashi the larger of her two teammates landed first. He came crashing down on top of the Phantom with enough force to send a ripple through its defensive shields and knock almost every Covenant warrior inside the vessel off their feet. While Fox the smaller of the two landed on the side and swung his way into the middle of the fallen Covenant forces. Noticing him they all rushed in an attempt to get back onto their feet or raise their weapon to meet the intruder but Fox was faster. He began spinning, diving, and jumping around the small space that made up the interior of the ship while using his arm mounted blades to slice through everything in 'sight'.

Meanwhile Yatsuhashi had made his way over to the head of the ship and plunged his massive sword with what appeared to be a superheated edge right through the cockpit before dragging it across the rest of the vessel nearly giving it the same treatment the Spirit had received.

Once the Phantom began to lose its altitude Fox and Yatsuhashi knew their job was done and so they looked back over to Coco for conformation. Coco promptly shot them a few quick hand gestures that told them to meet her on the ground. And with that she quickly stepped over to the left to retrieve her combat knife and a set of plasma grenades from the very much dead Grunt and after holstering the knife and pressing the activation switches on both grenades she turned towards the opening she came in from and jumped back out into the open air before chucking both of the plasma grenades behind her back onto the deck of the drop ship. And then while Coco was snapping a fresh clip into her saw she heard a sharp echoing blast erupt from inside the Phantom followed by the sound of sputtering engines and finally by a much louder and much heavy explosion as the whole thing ripped itself apart. It was like music to her ears. And now that she was much closer to the ground she was in the perfect position to watch as her teammate Yatsuhashi slammed down on top of one of the enemy Wraith tanks causing its shields to flash and disperse before the whole front end caved in under the force of the impact.

Without taking any chances Yatsuhashi quickly swiped his superheated blade across the back side of the crippled Wraith slicing its plasma mortar clean off. Then he glanced around to asses his surroundings and found that just as he had expected, he as now being swarmed on all sides by jumbled mass of Covenant forces. And the moment the Covenant opened fire on him he opened his mouth to speak. "Dust Overdrive!" And just like that his armor began to glow and in turn his protective shields flared up brightly causing all the shots to bounce off or burst against them harmlessly. Then that's when his armor released a flash of light so bright it caused Coco's helmet visor to turn a few shades darker to protect her eyes and every Covenant around him with the exception of the Hunters had to shield their eyes from its intensity. When they did Yatsuhashi with his armor still glowing like the sun sprang into motion leaping down from the wraith and rending his way through the horde. Each swing of his massive blade cleaving one or more of his enemies clean in half and leaving their remains to disintegrate.

Meanwhile a few yards away completely oblivious to blinding light Fox barreled his way through the crowd of distracted enemies with his arm mounted blades. While every now and then he needed to dodge out of the way of a blind shot from a plasma weapon or a lucky swing of an energy sword. Of course this was no fluke. This was a practiced strategy they have used many times. Yatsuhashi's armor was thicker and had stronger shielding than just about anyone else. So while he ran distraction Fox would use his speed and his ability to fight without the use of sight to wipe out as many of the enemy as possible before Yatsuhashi's dust reserves ran low. And when that happened, well that's when Coco would take care of clean up.

Speaking of at this point Coco had already landed and began unloading rounds from both of her Saw rifles into the horde picking off whole squads at a time. Even though her vision was also affected by Yatsuhashi's flair her helmet much like the standard helmets of the Spartans it was designed to automatically adjust for such things and she was also quite use to fighting under such conditions. This gave her the clear edge ever her enemies in this fight. An edge she had no problems taking full advantage of. "It's like shooting big purple fish in a barrel!" She declared as she blew away another unwitting pack of Grunts and a signal Elite who was charging at her. Then she refocused on a pair of Hunters staggering towards her. Unlike everything else in their army Hunter's didn't have any eyes to blind. That added together with their think armor and the powerful plasma cannons that they usually had strapped to their arms would always make them quite the pain to deal with.

Coco quickly lifted both her Saw Rifles with one in each hand so the barrels were facing towards the two Hunters and squeezed the triggers. With in seconds the ground around her feet was completely littered with spent shell casings. Much to her dismay however the Hunters just as quickly responded by letting out an angry roar and lifting their thick metal shields up to protect themselves from the hot iron spray of her rifles. And even the shredding power of Coco's favorite Saws wasn't enough to penetrate those ridiculously thick shields so she knew she would have to switch tactics. "It's no good huh, alright big boys let's play!" She shouted before flipping her Saws back onto her back and braking into a sprint towards the Hunters.

Noticing Coco's charge the Hunters raised their plasma cannons and let loose a twin blast of hot green plasma. Coco quickly activated her thrusters to dodge to the right to avoid the first blast then she fired them again to fling herself up into the air to avoid the second. Once she was up in the air the Hunter's quickly adjusted their aim and fired another round of plasma. Being suspended in the air with her feet off the ground would make it more difficult to avoid her opponent's attacks so Coco decided she wouldn't bother to avoid them. "Dust Overdrive!" She shouted causing her armor to glow again and recreate her energy shield between herself and the enemies attack. The two quickly collided in the air and rather than the plasma detonating it recoiled off the shield and was sent back to its senders.

One of the returned plasma blasts slammed right into the attacking Hunters arm mounted plasma cannon causing it to ignite and explode taking half Hunter's body along with it. Once the Hunter's body was destabilized it collapsed onto the ground and the surviving worms that made up its form began to scatter in all directions. The other Hunter however was either prepared or lucky enough to move its shield into position to absorb the plasma blast. And after the blast cleared it and it released its partner had been slain it let out a battle cry and prepared to go back on the attack just as Coco landed on the ground in front of it. The moment after Coco landed she had to fire her thrusters to dive under the Hunter's shield as it took a swing at her and she jumped back up to her feet with her combat knife in hand and dug it across a gap in the Hunters armor causing several worms to spill out. Then the Hunter responded by spinning around and firing another blast of plasma directly at Coco.

Coco couldn't help but let a smile come to her face that was hidden behind her dark tented visor when she opened her mouth to speak again. "Dust Overdrive!" She shouted again causing her energy shield to intercept the plasma blast and bounce it back into the face of her opponent. The Hunter roared as it was blown off its feet by the force of the blast. However unlike the first Hunter this one was still managing to hold itself together and attempted to lift its weapon back up to aim at its opponent. Coco quickly hurdle herself on top of the Hunter and forced the cannon back down with the heel of her armored boot before drawing her magnum and unloading nearly a whole clip of it in between the beasts armor. Then the Hunter roared once last time before becoming still and finally beginning to break apart as the worms abandoned their fallen host.

Then Coco ejected her magnums clip before slamming a fresh one into place. Once she did she heard Yatsuhashi's voice come over her radio. "Coco, Fox, I'm starting to run low on dust. I will have to drop our cover soon." He stated.

Coco quickly glanced around to see how many enemies were left but realized even for her it was hard to tell with under these conditions so she quickly activated her own radio. "Understood, Fox is the number of enemies manageable yet?" She inquired.

After a moment of static her radio chirped back on. "There is still too many. Is it time for plan B?" Fox inquired.

Coco's smile widened before she spoke again. "Are you sure you can't read my mind Fox?" She asked.

Fox let out a light chuckle before responding. "No, I just know you a bit too well at this point." He said dismissively.

Then Yatsuhashi's voice cut in again. "Whatever we're doing we need to make a decision I only have about ten more second's of dust left before I have to switch over to my emergency reserve."

"Alright chill guys, plan B it is! You know the drill let's do this!" Coco declared as she left off a few more rounds from her magnum before holstering it and drawing the large metal suitcase from her back and slamming it down onto the ground in front of her. When she did the case burst open unfolding and refolding into platform as large six barrel chain-gun turret unfolded from inside the case to stand in the center of the platform. Then Coco reached over to pull removed the section of her left arms armor that her energy usual projected from and placing it on her back where the suitcase used to be.

Then Coco stepped up to the chain-gun and took a deep breath before she began to count. "Five, four, three, two, one, zero!" The moment she reached zero the blinding light that had been engulfing the whole area finally died out revealing a mass of stumbling and confused Covenant warrior's before her. And when she had them in her sights she squeezed the triggers of her turret allowing it to rev up before she opened her mouth to shout. "Dust Overdrive!" When she spouted like before her armor began to glow brightly only this time the energy flowed through her hands into the turret and into her back activating the shield to protect her from behind while the turret began to glow and deploy a similar shield around its sides surrounding Coco in a cocoon of light.

Noticing Coco one of the Elite motioned towards her and shouted to its comrades in their own language to attack her. And instantly Coco was hit by a barrage of plasma round from all sides that simply bounced off her shields. "Nice try boys but I got one better!" She declared as she flipped a leaver on her turret deactivating its safety and allowing the dust round to begin feeding through it. Instantly the barrel erupted in bright hot flashes as heated dust round soared through the air towards her intended targets. As the rounds hit their mark they ignited burning through the enemy's shields before burying themselves in their flesh and exploding ripping them apart and setting their remains aflame at the same time.

Much like the Coco's Saw's her turret was releasing its death spray at a ridiculously high rate. However these rounds wouldn't let any amount of armor stand between them and their pray. So Coco spun and pivoted her turret on its pedestal taking aim at every high value target in sight. First she blew away the enemies targeting her position then switched to a set of Ghosts in the distances ripping them apart just as quickly. Then a Wraith moving it self into position was torn apart. Then her radio kicked in. "Coco watch the sky on your six!" Yatsuhashi told her.

"Roger that!" Coco said as she spun her turret around and pointed it skyward to see a familiar Pelican Class drop ship spinning through the air locked in a dog fight with a squad of three Banshee ships and a Phantom Class drop ship. Coco quickly opened fire on the enemy air craft flipping off the wings of two of the Banshees causing them to slam into each other in mid air before exploding and causing the third to break away from its chase. Then Coco focused her aim on the Phantom's cockpit. The first few rounds of her weapon were blocked out by the ships powerful shields before they began punching through and killing the pilots causing the craft to plummet out of the sky.

Then another female voice shot out from Coco's radio. "Thanks for the hand Coco!"

"No problem Velvet, you can just owe me one." Coco said jokingly as she returned to gunning down everything that moved. Which by the way didn't include Fox and Yatsuhashi because their involvement in plan B usually pertained to saying as low as possible and going into armor lock to divert as much power to their shields as possible.

Then a ball of green plasma bounced off the energy shield covering Coco's back side and slamming into the ground only a few feet away kicking up a way of dirt that proceeded to pelt her. "What the hell!" She hissed as she spun around to glance up and set the third Banshee that had broken off its chase before returning to attack her. "You still want some!" She shouted as she lifted her barrel to face it and began unloading rounds. However after only a few shoots were fired the chain-gun stopped firing and began releasing a mechanical clicking sound which signaled her that she had completely run out of ammo. As for the rounds she had fired though a few of them had hit their mark they had only managed to break through its shields and the Banshee was still flying down towards her position. "Oh that's just great!" She roared.

"Don't worry I got you!" Velvet declared as she flew in behind the Banshee and let loose a rocket that screamed through the air towards the Banshee and though it spun out of the way the rocket quickly changed direction and slammed into the side of crafted and detonated. With the Banshee's shields already compromised the ship completely blew apart sending shards of purple tented metal in every direction. "I guess we're even now aren't we?" Velvet asked jokingly as she pasted over Coco's head and proceeded to bombard the rest of the Covenants ground forces around the base of the Forerunner structure.

Coco just shook her head before letting out a laugh and responding. "Gees I guess not. And they call me a show off." Then her attention was pulled back to the fray as a plasma round fired from the pistol of a nearby Grunt bounced off her energy shield and went straight back into the chest of her attacker causing it to squeal in agony before collapsing into silence. The sight of which brought another smile to Coco's hidden face until she noticed her energy shields beginning to flicker. "Oh crap, my dust supply must be running low! Well no since in keeping this thing going then!" She said before allowing her overdrive to end causing both the shield on her back and the turret to shut off. And then she glanced back at the empty turret and flicked a switch on the side causing it to retract and its metal casing to fold back up around it once again creating a large suit case. Then she quickly pulled the shield from her back to slot it back onto her wrist and flipped the case up to return to her back.

Then she went back onto her radio. "Fox, Yatsuhashi, Velvet's got the right idea we need to clear out that structure if we're going to have any hope of evacuation our allies. You go give her a hand I will try and keep their attention for a little longer." She announced.

"Roger that!" She head them responded instantly.

With that task out of her way she drew one her Saws and began stepping forwards looking for more threats to eliminate. "Okay let's see what we can do here." She didn't have to look for long though as a group of Elite's quickly rushed towards her. Two of which were wielding energy swords and the three others were equipped with plasma rifles.

Without hesitation Coco opened fire aiming for the ranged opponents first. Her round ripped through the head of the first opponent and then cut the second in two. The third one however dunked out of the way of bullet train and pulled a sticky grenade from its waist before throwing it at Coco's feet. Coco had to fire her right side thrusters to dodge away from the blast but was still caught up in the shockwave sending her into a roll. She quickly righted herself just in time to avoid getting impaled on the blade of an energy sword. And then she tried to level her gun towards her attacker only to have the Elite take another swing that sliced rifle clean in half and rendering it useless. "Crap!" She hissed as she rolled under another swing and pulled out her combat knife.

Then the Elite began to bark at her causing her translation unit to kick back in. "That's right demon, fight me like a true warrior!"

"Fine you're on!" Coco roared as she charged forward. The Elite let out a sound that kind of sounded like laughter before thrusting it's blade at her. Coco quickly spun her body to put her back against the Elite's chest and grasped the Elites arm before twisting it and flipping the far larger alien her shoulders and slamming it into the scorched grass in front of her. Then she dug her knife into the throat of the Elite silencing its pained cries. Before she had time to do anything else the second sword wielding Elite was nearly on top of her and was lifting his sword for a strike. So Coco fired her thrusters and tackled the Elite to the ground. When she did she used her combat knife to pin the Elites sword arm to the ground while she drew and began unloading her magnum into the head of the Elite putting it down after about four shots.

After that she heard the squeal of a Grunt and looked over to see a pair of them charging towards her with plasma grenades in hand. So she lifted her magnum and planted a single round in both their heads before getting blown over by barrage of plasma fire to her back. Her shields flickered as she was sent into roll but she quickly spun her body and got back up on her knees with her magnum trained on her attacker. It was the same Elite that had thrown the plasma grenade at her earlier. She quickly angled her aim towards the Elites head and fired of a round. The shot stuck its mark causing the Elite to flinch and its shields to flicker but otherwise stay in place so she tried to fire again but realized she had just fired her last round. Then she got stuck by another burst of plasma throwing her back onto the ground and sending her shields into the red and causing her to release a cry of pain as she felt her armor begin to sizzle.

Then the Elite began to slowly approach Coco while letting out steady burst of plasma trying to deal a killing blow to his pray. While Coco carefully maneuvered her body around on the ground to avoid a direct hit but she knew this wasn't a winning strategy. She needed to do something and fast or this might really be her last battlefield after all. However she was out of resources. Her turret was dry, her magnum was empty, her combat knife was still stock in the body of the Elite she killed a moment ago, one of her Saws was broken, and her last Saw wasn't loaded at the moment and would take to much time to reload. To top it all off she was far too low on dust to risk using her overdrive. If she did her whole armor could shut down on her. Then she spotted an abandoned plasma rifle lying in the dirt a few feet away and decided to go for it. She waited for a burst of plasma to come and she fired her thrusters to fling herself towards the weapon but the Elite must have figured out her plan because the rifle was blasted away before she could rap her hands around it and then she was struck in her right shoulder by another burst.

When she was hit she fell back over on the ground and began clutching the smoldering shoulder in pain. Luckily for the Elite's rifle overheated after the last burst or she would have been completely fried by now but it would only by her a second or two so she had to fight through the pain. She jumped back up to her feet and dove for the abandoned plasma rifle again griping it with her left hand and aiming it back up at her attacked before squeezing the trigger. When she did the weapon hissed and sputtered but little if anything else. "Oh, son of a…" She hissed as she inspected the now burnt out and useless weapon in her hand.

The Elite lout out something akin to a laugh before lifting its now cool weapon towards her. "Die!" It roared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What cliffhanger! Yes I know, I know. I kept you waiting all this time for a cliffhanger? I realize I am a monster but it just kind of worked out this way. Hopefully you won't have to wait as long for the next installment. And as always please let me know what you thought I always enjoy reading your reviews.


	11. The Calvary has Arrived Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team RWBY stand their ground against and seemingly endless assault while the life of an ally hangs in the balance. It seems only a miracle could turn the tides of this battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was updated as of 11/27/16.
> 
> Anyway I really hope you enjoy this chapter and please, please remember to like and leave your thoughts and any questions you may have in the comments. I always enjoy reading your feedback and will do what I can to answer questions without spoiling anything. It always helps motivate me to keep going and continue to pump out content.

#### Planet Remnant Forerunner Installation 0360

The battle waged on like a violent tempest that had been trapped inside a nightclub. The loud crack of rifles together with the pained howls of angry alien invaders acted as the sound track. While volley after volley of hot blue and green plasma blasts lit up the narrow corridor like party lights while making the space between the advancing Covenant forces and the human defenders the deadliest dance floor ever conceived.

With each missed shot, the plasma would splash against the smooth reflective metal that made up the walls of the forerunner structure without even leaving a scorch mark half the time, while similarly on the opposing side of the hall, red hot lead would ping off without leaving a dent on the durable material.

“Don’t let up, hammer’em boys!” The marine captain commanded his men who were all either perch on small the small ledges that flanked the corridor on both sides or were down below crouched behind makeshift barricades created to block the enemies advance.

All too eager to follower their captain’s orders, the marines burst out from behind their cover to let loose another haze of gunfire directly into the heart of the enemy lines. Some using their borrowed alien weapons while others still used what they had left of their standard issue weaponry. Only ceasing their attack once their plasma weapons began to overheat or their clips were completely emptied. Then they would all dunk back into cover just in time to avoid the enemies return fire and ready themselves for the next strike.

It was after one such attack that the Captain called out to Ruby from across the hall. “Alright little lady your up!”

Ruby Rose like many of the marines, was currently perched up on one of the many narrow ledges around the corridor so she could get a better angle with her rifle. And though the marines had called her baby ridiculously bulking and overcomplicated when they first seen her weapon, she was all too happy to prove them wrong.

“Roger that!” The Ruby replied as she signaled her teammates who were taking cover below to get ready and then she hoisted her weapon up and took aim herself.

When Ruby’s first shot rang out, her teammates all promptly burst out of their cover to fire on the enemy as well. Ruby’s rifle-scythe cracked over and over again. Each time a shell casings clattered on the floor below her it was matched by the splatter of alien blood and brain matter on the opposing side of the corridor. And with each shot that hit its mark she would count allowed almost in sing song. “Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four hit the floor!”

“This is hardly the time for games!” Weiss shouted up at their chipper leader from her position behind one of the main barricades lining the hall while she took pot shots at the enemy with her magnum pistol.

“What, aren’t having fun!?” Ruby asked cheerfully.

Weiss groaned before dunking back down into cover to reload and turn towards her black clad teammate who was knelt beside. “Don’t you agree, that this is a waste of energy Blake?!” 

Blake shrugged as she snapped a new clip into her weapon. “I guess it’s good for moral.” She reasoned before popping back up and opening fire. “Twenty-three, Twenty-four!” She called out as two more enemies fell in the hail of bullets.

Weiss let out a loud muffled sigh as she gave her teammate a look of utter betrayal. “This is just ridiculous!” She roared before popping back up herself and rejoining the firefight.

“You should seriously try to loosen up and chill out Weisscream! I bet you’re only complaining this much because you’re losing aren’t you!?” Yang teased from behind the front most blockade that was located directly in front Weiss and Blake’s position. “Isn’t that right Chief?” The yellow clad woman asked the green armored giant stood beside her with his battle rifle pointed down range and cracking relentlessly. The man in question stopped shooting just long enough to give Yang the slightest of shrugs before returning to firing off three round bursts with deadly precision. For whatever reason Yang took that to mean he agreed with her. “See, told you Weisscream!”

Weiss felt like she was about to have a brainanurism and wanted to snap at her teammate, but she managed to force back most of her hate before responding. “First of all I told you to stop calling me that! Secondly you have no room to talk.” She huffed while she along with the rest of teammates disengaged the enemy and dunked back into cover so they could allow the Marines a chance to jump back into the fray.

“What do you mean by that?” Yang asked her white clad teammate.

With them all now out of direct combat, Weiss figured it was a good time as any to clear something up. “Well, you know Yang I couldn’t help but notice you haven’t been announcing your kill count either. Care to tell us what that is all about?” She inquired.

“Th-that’s just because I don’t want to embarrass you guys!” Yang shot back, her tone taking on a slightly defensive edge to it.

Weiss was less than convinced of course, so she moved a hand over her helmet to activated her intercom. “Hey Penny, could you be a dear and tell us what the current kill count of all team members is?” She asked in the same honey coated tone she usually reserved for important officials. “I know you’ve been keeping track.”

Weiss’s sudden unexpected inquiry seemed caused to cause Yang great discomfort, since her posture became incredibly stiff and ridged and she looked like she was about to protest, but her words died on her lips when another voice popped into their heads. That voice of course belonging to none other than their team’s ever cheerful AI companion Penny. “Gladly, ma’am just give me a moment! The current standings are as follows. Yang Xiao Long is in fifth place with eleven confirmed kills, Weiss Schnee is in fourth place with twenty confirmed kills, Blake Belladonna in third place with twenty-six confirmed kills, and Captain Ruby Rose in second place with a whopping thirty-seven confirmed kills! Wow, how intense! I hope this response was satisfactory Miss Schnee! Let me know if you need anything else I can do for you!” Penny announced gleefully.

“Yes, it was quite help. Thank you Penny that will be all.” Weiss responded dismissively while she carefully watched as the confident attitude of her yellow clad teammate slowly began to grumble. The girl’s postured deflating in front of her eyes. It was at this moment that Weiss was truly grateful that she was wearing a helmet. Because if anyone were to see the less than lady like smirk that was currently plastered across her face she might have died of embarrassment, that is if she didn’t kill them on the spot. Shaking those thoughts from her minds she continued. “So you got anything to say about that Yang?” She asked in the most condescending tone she could manage.

That last question seemed to finally push the blond brawler over the edge since she promptly broke into an angry rant. “Alright, fine I get it so shut up already! Besides it’s not like it’s really even my fault! I ran out of dust rounds awhile ago and I don’t have anything else but this stupid shotgun to compete with! This things range is terrible! If I’m anymore than six feet away from them, it will barely even tickle them. And I’ve at least managed to kill all of them that got dumb enough to get to close to us!” She spat, breathing heavily by the end of it.

Weiss just rolled her eyes behind her visor and scoffed. “Blaming your weapon now? This couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that you lack the ability to think ahead and conserve your ammo or that you’re just a bad shot right? Come on, we’ve all seen your range scores Yang. You couldn't hit the broadside of a barn unless it was at point blank range, and yet this is all the fault of that perfectly good standard issue shotgun. Seriously, you do realize that I’m using nothing more than my side arm right?”

Yang groaned in frustration before replying. “I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the weapon. It’s just that this isn’t the right place for it! And besides isn’t your magnum one of the older models? Don’t those things have built in smart zoom?! You could probably blow a cockroach off General Ironwood’s ass from one-hundred yards away using that thing! How is that even fair!? If I had one of those right now, I’d be in first for sure…” She Yang’s rant came to an abrupt end when a thought accrued to her. “Wait, hold on a minute, weren’t we just listed as fifth through second? Why was their no first place?” She asked in a curious tone.

“Hey now that you mention it, I think your right. Why was the order mixed up? Was that an error Penny?” Weiss inquired.

After being prompted, Penny’s voice once again echoed in their helmets as she begun to explain. “My apologies ma’am, but you said that you only said wanted to hear the teams scores, I omitted Master Chief’s score. Was that not your intention? Allow me to correct this mistake. Master Chief’s current confirmed kill score is fifty-ni(recalculating), sixty-thre(recalculating), Sixty-five confirmed kills.” Penny declared causing all eyes of team RWBY to be drawn to the green clad soldier who was still opening up on the enemy. He didn’t seem to be paying the groups conversation any mind.

Watching this odd scene play out before them, one of the soldiers turned to his commanding officer to speak. “Are these girls for real sir?!” He asked.

The officer let out a soft sigh before responding in a tired voice. “Yeah, Ozpin’s men are all a little bit odd from what I hear, but they know what their doing. Just stick to the plan and I’m sure we will make it out of here.” The soldier seemed to accepting his captain’s words at face value and quickly returned his attention to the battle. However, as the captain continued to watch the girl’s bicker, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had made the right call.

////////////////////////////////////////////////

The fight had been stretching on for what seemed like forever at this point and everyone was beginning to wear down. RWBY, the Chief, and what was left of the Remnant soldiers were holding out okay, but they were vastly out numbered. And with the seemingly endless number of Covenant warriors coming at them, they were starting to run desperately low on ammo. They were managing somehow though, either by taking advantage of what little cover or height advantage the confined space had offered them and making sure their shots counted.

Unfortunately, the most the human forces could really manage at this point was putting on enough suppressing fire to halt the enemies advance before they had to dunk back into cover and out of their line of fire. They all knew that they wouldn’t be able to hold this position forever, but they had no where else to go. And even though the Covenant was known to become reckless whenever forerunner artifacts were involved, they weren’t stupid enough to screw up an advantage like this.

Even though the Covenant was generally considered a religious sect, the fact was that at its core, it was really a military power. Their warrior’s were well trained, and many of them were quite experienced in warfare. This fact was made ever more apparent to the defenders as the Covenant’s siege pressed on, and the Covenant’s formations began to change. No longer were the eager glory seekers charging in blindly to be ripped apart. Rather for once the prideful Elite’s were taking a back seat and allowing the shield wielding Jackals and Hunters to lead the formation.

With the Covenant shields creating a wall between themselves and the human/faunus forces, they steadily began to gain more and more ground. Of course for the defenders positioned closest to the front of their blockade, this was quite disheartening. “Well crud, that’s not good! What do we do now!?” Yang shouted.

“Explosives are our best option. We could blow a hole in their formation and pick off the softer targets in the back.” Chief responded as he finally dunked back into cover and began reloading. Then he glanced up to the corner of his heads up display to check his grenade count. He was down to his last fragmentation grenade. Realizing this wouldn’t be nearly enough for the job he had in mind, he turned towards Yang to address her directly. “Do you have any grenades left? We will need more.” He inquired.

Yang promptly glanced up to the corner of her own visor and cursed under her breath when she remembered that her heads up display was still very much broken. “Hold up.” She said as she began patting her self down for explosives. Sure enough, she had two of her own fragmentation grenades left as well as a pair of plasma grenades that she had swiped off of a dead Grunt some time ago. Without being able to see them on her display, she must have forgotten about them. Then she promptly set the explosives down in between her and the Chief for him to inspect. “You think these will do the trick?”

The Chief glanced down at the grenades and gave Yang a curt nod of approval. “This should be enough.” He told her before reaching over and grasping both of the plasma grenades. Then he stole a quick glance over their blockade at the approaching enemies and set his sights on a pair of Hunters in the middle of the formation. They were tanking the brunt of their ally’s attacks, soaking up bullets and plasma blasts like giant worm filled sponges. The Hunters were also dishing out their fair share of punishment, each taking pot shots with their fuel rod cannons every chance they got, so it was clear that they the biggest threat. “I will get those Hunters out of the way. Then when I give the signal, I want you to put those frags into the center of their formation. Think you can handle that?” He asked Yang.

Though Chief couldn’t see it, Yang was now wearing a large snarky grin. “Come on, I got this!” She declared as she snatched up the frags.

With that the Spartan quickly activated both the plasma grenades causing them to pulsate with energy and release an electronic hiss. Then he bolted up out of cover and with a pitchers grace, he threw each of the grenades at the Hunters. One plasma grenade stuck itself to the left most Hunter’s fuel rod cannon while the other struck the right Hunter in the middle of what would be considered its face.

Stunned as they were, it took the Hunters a moment to realize what had just happened. When they did realize however, they let out a set angry and desperate roars before the right most hunter was blown off its feet and the left most Hunter felt its arm detonate rupturing the arm mounted fuel rod cannon and releasing a mix of green and blue plasma in every direction. The combined plasma explosion was so intense that it also either injured or killed many of the jackals that were unlucky enough to be close by at the time.

The display of destruction filled Yang and her team with a since of cruel joy, and when Chief dunked back into cover and told Yang that it was her turn, there was no question in her mind about how to respond. She quickly yanked the pins on her grenades and popped out of cover to chuck both of them right into the opening Chief had created in their formation.

Yang’s aim was true and the grenades had landed in the middle of the Covenant formation, the Elite leading the formation, quickly noticed them, and began to panic. With control over the men lost, they all began to scatter, and that gave the defenders the chance that they had been waiting for. On that wasn’t missed by the marine captain, and he quickly signaled his men. “This is our chance boys, give’em hell!” He commanded causing his men to let out a chorus of battlecries before they all popped out and open fire.

“Everyone, let’s move together!” Ruby commanded as she also popped out of cover to begin taking shots at the important looking enemies towards the back of the formation. Of course this also prompted Weiss, Blake, Yang, and the Chief to return to firing along with the marines and allowing them to push the Covenant back.

After a about a minute of this storm of ammunition, clips were running low, and plasma batteries were getting hot. On top of that, the Covenant was beginning to regroup and counter attack. So many had to dunk back out of the fire fight to reload or allow their plasma weapon to cool down. And this gave Covenant forces chance to freeform their ranks and put the pressure back on. “For Monty sake these guys are stubborn! Keep fighting, we can’t let them get back into formation!” Yang shouted.

“Roger that!” Chief announced as he retrieved his own lone grenade and promptly hurled it directly into the center of the enemy’s ranks.

Spotting the inbound explosive, one of the Jackals holding the front line, hoisted up his energy shield in a desperate attempt to deflect the grenade. And to the Jackals credit, he did manage to block the grenade, and he even got it to bounce it back towards the Chief and his allies. However, before it could travel backward more than a foot, Master Chief had already leveled his sights on the explosive with his battle rifle. Then with a single squeeze of the trigger, a set of three .374 Caliber rounds exited the barrel of the rifle in a flash and in an instant, they had cleared the distance between them and the grenade striking the explosive in mid air.

When the grenade was struck, it did what it was designed to do, and it immediately detonated. The blast echoed through the corridor as it sent tiny bits of hot metal shrapnel in every direction. As a result, the energy shield that had deflected the grenade only a few seconds ago, was now shattered and dissolving, while its wielder, along with just about every other alien that happened to be anywhere close to the blast zone was either torn apart or blown off their feet by the shockwave.

“Yeah that’s what I’m talking about!” Yang cheered victoriously. “Do that again!”

“This does seem rather effective.” Blake added.

“Indeed, but do we have anymore grenades!? I know I’m all out!” Weiss inquired.

“I’m out.” Blake responded before glancing back towards their leader.

“Nope, sorry I got nothing.” Ruby announced while she shook her head. Then she turned back towards the marine captain to address him. “How about you guys, you got any grenades to you could spare?”

The captain shrugged in response. “Sorry little lady, but they don’t give us the good stuff anymore. It’s all that stupid councils fault, them and their damn budget cuts. They think that just because the wars supposedly over, that we won’t need new equipment. If it weren’t for you scavengers bringing us back supplies, we’d likely be running around in our underwear wielding nothing but our side arms.” He explained in a clearly aggravated, yet some how thankful tone.

“Hey it’s our job, but I’m glad to know that we’re actually making a difference.” Ruby replied gleefully. Then her tone dropped down to a far more serious level. “With that said, I don’t know how we’re going to deal with this situation without more explosives.” She pondered as she took in the battle from her perch. “Hey Weiss you got any ideas!?” She called down to her teammate.

Hearing her leaders call, Weiss glanced back to address her. “Well we could always try praying really hard. Maybe a miracle will happen.” She deadpanned.

“Wow a miracle, really Weiss?” Yang asked dryly.

“Oh hush up would you, I was being facetious! Really though, it wouldn’t even be the craziest thing to happen to us lately! Or rather today even! I say we just don’t rule anything out!” Weiss snapped back.

Unsure how she was to take this, Yang just shrugged her shoulders. “Fair enough, but what is it that you are expecting exactly? You think that the heavens are just going to open up and a bright light will engulf the Covenant!?” And you’re supposed to be the sensible one of thi-” Yang didn’t get to finish her little rant at a loud rumbling sound echoed through the halls of the forerunner structure. And the rumbling was promptly followed by the sound of an earth shattering impact and what seemed to be a full blown earth quake. The whole structure shook with the force of the impact and its occupants began to stumble all over the place, trying desperately to maintain their balance, and many failing miserably.

Then as quickly as the trimmers came, they seemed to dissipate, leaving everyone dazed and confused. “Okay, what the hell was that!?” Yang gasped as she forced herself back up on shaky legs.

That is when the voice of Cortana cut through the chaos to enter their ears. “Motion sensors are going crazy! Chief, I am picking up at least two maybe three impact zones. I have also lost several Covenant drop ships on my radar, possibly the cause of the tremors!” She announced.

“So what does that mean, did they crash!?” Yang asked.

“I believe so.” Cortana responded.

“Well what could have caused that!? Covenant ships don’t just fall out of the sky for no reason!” Yang roared in frustration. Then she spotted Weiss lifting a finger up like she was about to add some sort of snide remark, but Yang wasn’t in the mood. “Don’t say it! It’s just a coincidence!” She snapped at her white clad teammate, causing her to lower her finger and fold her arms over her chest in a show of irritation. “Alright, we can figure what that was later. For the time being we need to-“ Yang was once again interrupted when a bright flash of light erupted from the other side of the corridor where both the enemy and the entrance were located.

The already confused and stumbling Covenant began to panic as the light engulfed them. “Hey, that light! Is that what I think it is!?” Blake asked in an uncharacteristically exited tone.

With that Yang directed her gaze back over to Weiss, may or may not have been wearing the biggest shit eating grin of all time, and shooting her a rude gesture of some kind. Yang couldn’t really tell though, after all visibility was practically zero due to how much glare the light was creating. Whatever, the case really was, she just wanted to move on. “Okay, I take back everything that I said! Glory hallelujah, it’s a miracle! Are you happy now!?” She deadpanned.

“Yes actually.” Weiss replied curtly.

“Would you guy’s stop wasting time, this is our chance!” Blake roared at her two idling teammates while everyone else had returned to the fray.

“Oh crap, right!” Yang said as she rushed in.

“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me!” Added as she drew her melee weapon and followed her teammate into the firefight.

Then a moment later and a familiar female voice came over team RWBY’s radio. “Hello, this is Velvet Scarlatina of scavenging team CFVY! We’re here to assist in civilian extraction and enemy eradication. Hello, does anyone read me!?”

That announcement seemed to snap Ruby out of here own bewildered state and she quickly lifted her hand to her helmet to activate her radio. “This is Captain Ruby Rose of scavenging team RWBY, I read you loud and clear Vel! I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear your voice!”

“Glad to hear yours too, you guys were gone for a while! So, what is your current location? Do you need assistance?” Velvet inquired.

“We’re currently held up in Installation 0360 with all remaining civilians and marines and are most defiantly in need of some assistance. If you could clear the entrance we should be able to break through their line.” Ruby replied.

“Roger that love, glad we weren’t too late! Just hold on tight and we will be there soon! Oh, hold on, I got some company! Get back to you in a minute!” With that the radio was filled with a burst of static and cut off as the sounds of battle intensified outside the walls of the structure.

“You guy’s here that!? The cavalry has arrived!” Ruby cheered happily.

With that announcement all of the marines also let out a spirited cheer of their own. “We’re going to make it!” One of them shouted.

“Don’t jinx it son! We aren’t out of the woods yet!” The captain reprimanded as he directed their attention back towards the Covenant forces still blocking the path in front of them.

And a moment later the light that had been pouring into the corridor from the entrance was finally starting to fade out as the Covenant forces tried desperately to pull themselves back onto in a proper formation. However, they quickly realized that they were losing ground face, and the enemy wasn’t showing any signs of letting up on them. Left with no other options, the Covenant began to back peddle as their front line was hacked apart by the members of team RWBY and their melee weapons.

Now that they were forced into close combat, the Elites quickly armed themselves with their energy swords and began their counter attack. They slashed and stabbed at the four armored girl’s with practiced form and technique, but nothing that they hadn’t seen before, and the girls were able to avoid the blades easily enough. 

Meanwhile on the edge of the ensuing chaos near the front of the formation, there was a single Covenant Elite decked out in the signature armor of a Covenant Zealot. His posture was stiff and uncertain, but at the same time, it was proud and strong. This warrior had a name and that name was Dega 'Zogam.

To say the least, this had been quite the trying day for Dega. He had been aboard the broken heretic ship when the demons had first appeared. He had been the one who had advised his commander Ziro ‘Modomai to follow them through slipspace. And despite his failure at Requiem, he had been given the honor of leading this strike to reclaiming the holy artifacts they were desecrating.

However, nothing has been going as Dega had hoped. Never did he imagine that they would face such opposition. He never thought that defeat was even a possibility until a moment ago, but now it seemed unavoidable. Retreat seemed like the only logical option now, but he wouldn’t go back empty handed. Such disgrace was completely acceptable. Ziro would strip him of his station, or worse. That meant that he only had one other alternative, stand and fight, die with at least some honor in tact.

With that in mind he drew and activated his own energy sword. The blade emitted a hateful red glow, rather than the typical blue of his comrades. This blade was proof of his past rank and past accomplishments, he was proud of it, and now they would be having their final battle together. All he needed now was a worthy opponent to prove himself against.

Of course being a veteran of the Great War he had fought in many battles against the human heretics before now and was more than confident in his skills. So when he spotted something bit and green heading towards him out of the counter of his eyes, he tried to spin around to face them. However, before he could even make his first move, he had to reel back and roar in annoyance as a three round burst from a battle rifle struck him in the shoulder. The impact of the rounds causing against his shields caused them to hiss and flicker for a brief moment before settling. Then he took a step back and turned to refocus on the offending party. As it turned out, the large green mass that had been barreling towards him, was actually an armored demon. “Perfect.” Dega declared.

Meanwhile the Chief grimaced down at his battle rifles ammo indicator as the screen flicked twin zeros. He had to mentally berate himself for empting his clip on an enemy without even a hit on a vital but at least it had managed to stager the enemy and give him more time to close the distance between them uncontested. And now that he was only a few feet away and he had Dega’s full attention he figured it was no time to be distracted. So he tossed the empty rifle over his shoulder causing the magnetic strip on his back to catch it pulling the weapon onto his back with a click. Then he reached down to his waist and drew out his combat knife.

With the demon now in range Dega thrust forward with his sword in an attempt to impale the heretic only for him to dunk under the energy weapon and grab hold of Dega’s arm and sink the blade of his knife into the aliens shoulder. This caused Dega to roar in agony as the blade slipped through his shields and dug into his shoulder blade. And then Chief kicked out the Dega’s feet and used the leverage his knife gave him to flip Dega up and over onto his back causing his arm to twist and pop out of his joint in the process.

Then the Chief yanked his blade free from his opponent’s shoulder before he raised it up above his head to jam it back down into the downed enemy’s throat. However Dega still seemed to have some fight left in him and quickly jerked his head out of the way before reaching his good arm over to retrieve his dropped sword and the moment he got a grip he promptly took a swipe at the Chief with it. It was to no avail however since the Chief managed to jump backward out of the reach of the heated blade just in time to avoid being sliced open by it. However he soon realized that his combat knife hadn’t been so lucky. The blade had been completely sliced off and was now nothing more than a burn and sizzling handle.

“You will have to try harder than that demon!” Dega howled as it pointed the twin blades of the energy sword towards the Chief in the most threatening manner possible given his prone position while at the same time he tried to crawl backward and put distance between himself and the Chief.

“Alright if that’s the way you want it!” Chief stated before he tossed aside the ruined remains of his combat knife and began to slowly approach the Dega who was now prone on the ground. Chief being as careful as possible as to not get within reach of his blade, while he look for a chance to strike.

The chance that Chief had been waiting for finally came when he came across another warrior Elite lying dead on the ground beside his opponent. Based on how trampled the body was, it had likely been slain during one of the earlier assaults. Chief couldn’t help but allow himself a small grin when he spotted the undamaged energy sword strapped to the corpse’s waist. “Sorry about this buddy but it doesn’t look like you will need it any time soon.” Chief said before retrieving and activating the energy weapon. Now once again armed Chief charged forward while Dega tried to take a swing at him only for Chief to deflect his blade with his own and send the aliens sword along with the arm holding it skidding across the hallway floor leaving a purple trail of purple blood in its wake.

Once the shock of seeing his arm lobbed off had subsided, Dega let out a wail of pure agony which was promptly cut short when the Chief plunged his blade through its chest and into its heart killing it instantly.

With that task done he glanced back towards his comrades who were busy pushing the enemy back towards the entrance. They seemed to have given renewed vigor with the promise of escape ahead of them. He quickly ran forward to join them and before long they had managed to push the fight so far back many of the Covenant forces were forced to exit the structure and stand outside. Once there they were sandwiched between themselves and their newly arrived reinforcements and began dropping like flies.

At this time however Ruby was looking down the sights of her sniper-scythe to pick out targets. She spotted something in the distance that filled her with concern. Far across the battlefield Coco Adel the leader of team CFVY was locked in a brutal melee with a group of Elites and they were slowly cornering her. To her credit Coco managed to dispatch most of them without trouble but once she got down to the last Elite she looked like she was running on empty and was out of options.

“No, Coco don’t worry I got you!” She shouted as she took aim on the Elite and rapped her finger around the trigger. Unfortunately before she could take the shot she had to dunk down out of the way of an enemy particle beam rifle then acting on muscle memory alone she popped back up and followed the trail of shot back to a Jackal in the distance and fired off a round which nailed it right between the eyes. With that done she snapped back over to see Coco diving for a plasma weapon and leveling it on the Elite. Ruby was about to mentally berate herself for thinking that Coco couldn’t handle herself until the plasma weapon seemed to blow up in her hands leaving her completely defenseless.

“Monty, just hold on Coco!” Ruby shouted before taking aim again and firing off another dust round. The shot screamed across the battle field and struck the Elite in the side causing its shields to flare before it lost balance and toppled over onto its back, it was hurt but unfortunately still alive.

Not wanting to take anymore chances, Ruby figured she should make sure she put the Elite down for good and took aim for its head. Much to her dismay however, when she tried to take the shot, nothing happened. There was no bang, no recoil, no impact, and worst of all no new hole between the Elite’s eyes. “Crap, not now!” She hissed in a panic before she began to scramble to eject her spent clip and load in a new one. However, she felt her heart sink when she reached into her satchel for another clip and found that it was empty. She had just fired the last shot of her last clip and failed to kill her target. The realization that she may have, just traded the life of her friend to kill a stupid jackal causing her to despair.

“Dang it, I’m a complete moron!” Ruby berated herself before shaking her head clear. “No, there is still time, focus Ruby! Don’t worry Coco, I’m coming!” She declared before she activated her thrusters and breaking into a mad dash for her friend.

At this point both Coco and the Elite warrior were nearly back on their feet and reading themselves for their opponent’s next move. Knowing that she had to close the distance while she had the chance, the moment Coco could move her legs properly, she rushed towards the Elite at full speed. The Elite meanwhile began to level his weapon in her direction.

It was at this point that Coco realized that she wouldn’t be able to reach the Elite before he would have a chance to fire. With that in mind, she mentally prepared herself to take a few hits. However, before either her or her opponent had the chance to fight. She heard a deep rumbling sound coming from above her and it sounded like it was getting closer. Unable to ignore it, she glanced upward to see what was causing it and when she did, her face momentarily distorted in horror, before she dove to the side.

This prompted the Elite cackle in amusement. Either out of ignorance or arrogance, it seemed to think that Coco’s sudden bout of fear was all caused by him. This was a foolishness that he would soon come to regret however, when a ten ton alien drop pod slammed into the ground only a few feet in front of him. The force of the pods impact was so great that it kicked up pounds of dirt and stone derby and it blew it in every direction. As a result the Elite was also blown backward a few dozen feet and landed hard enough to cause his shields to hiss.

“What the hell is this now!?” Coco roared as she dug herself out of the dirt and glanced at the alien pod. “Is it another enemy!?” She thought allowed.

The answer to Coco’s questions came shortly after, when the pod’s latches released and let loose a cloud of steam as it depressurized. A moment later and the pods access hatch shot off of it like it had been fired from a cannon and skidded across the ground next to her. That’s when she finally got a good look at the pods only occupant. That was when Coco suddenly found herself staring directly into the open pod with her eyes wide and her jaw slacked. She couldn’t believe what, or rather who she was seeing.

Stood in the pod was a tall man in dark grey and orange body armor with similar equipment to Coco’s own. He had a shield generate attached to his wrist and a set of combat and throwing knifes fastened to his suit in several different places. Coco also noted the small white skull icon printed on top of his helmet and the set of crescent moon icons printed on his shoulder. The man was unmistakable and when he looked up to meet Coco’s gaze she finally found her voice again. “What the fuck Jaune! Where the hell did you come from!?” She shouted.

**To Be Continued…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just another reminder to leave your thoughts and questions. I really do like to hear from you and will do my best to respond to any questions.
> 
> If you are wondering when the next chapter may be out. Well I don't know. It will likely less time than this chapter took but I can't say for sure. Just know that I have a plan and will do my very best to deliver as soon as I can.


	12. Arc of the Covenant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune has a strange morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome to the next chapter of Planet Remnant. First off let's address the elephant in the room, you may have noticed that it is part 1.5 and not 2 right? I know many of you aren't writes so you may not know what I'm talking about but try to hear me out for a minute. Have you even been writing a chapter and realize that you've gone completely off the rails? And not only have you gone off the rails but you can't stop yourself? Well that's what happened here.
> 
> Even though this chapter still directly follows the events of the last chapter and will lead into the next. This chapter is by far the oddest entry so far. I thought about scrapping it all together but said screw it, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and figured I could have one for me.
> 
> If you are still interested, then let it be known that this is mostly a comedy chapter centering around Jaune and there isn't much action. Otherwise you could likely just read till the first scene transition to get everything you need to know for next chapter. Anyway I hope you still enjoy anyway and don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Coco was now staring on in awe of the armored figure hunched over within the alien pod. The figure looked to be male and was standing up but he looked like he was in a daze. It was also clear even with his slouched posture that he was quite tall. The man was also dressed in dark grey and orange battle armor similar to her own. Even the man's equipment bared some similar to Coco's arsenal with what appeared to be a shield generator attached to his wrist and a set of both a large combat and several smaller throwing knifes fastened to the suit in several different places. Lastly, there was also several identifying icons were printed onto the armor. On top of his helmet was a small white skull icon and on his chest plate was a pair of golden crescent moons. When Coco saw these it didn't take her long at all to realize who had nearly dropped on top of her.

The man's daze seemed to be clear as he began to stir and let out a sickly groan. "Jaune where the fuck did you come from!? You nearly crushed me to death you know!?" Coco hissed causing the man known as Jaune to glance up to see her looking back at him.

Despite the fact he couldn't see Coco's eyes through her dark tented visor he could practically feel her glare. And perhaps even taste it too, though that might just be his breakfast trying to catch up to him. Jaune let out a light chuckle before responding. "It's good to see you too Coco. Did I drop in at a bad time?" He asked before finally dislodging himself from the pod and poking his head out to take in his surroundings. Seeing that it was mostly clear he pushed himself up out of the pod however the moment his feet touched solid ground he began to stagger back and forth and groan even more loudly. "Oh man, I really shouldn't have had tacos last night." He scolded himself.

Then Jaune straighten out as he caught something stirring out of the corner of his eye and he heard the voice of Coco shoot through his cloudy mind once again. "Pay attention idiot or you're going to die!"

Coco's voice managed to cut through the fog and that's when the ringing in Jaune's ears subsided allowing him to hear a low growling coming from what appeared to be a purple heap lying a short distance away from his drop pod. He took a moment to give the thing a better look and realized that it was a Covenant Elite. The split jaw looked like it had seen better days with dents and dirt covering its armor and there was even a deep bullet wound in its shoulder. The Elite also looked to be completely furious and was currently training his weapon on Jaune's position. Without waiting for his mind to play catch up Jaune's body sprang into motion diving out of the way of a plasma volley. Now acting completely on instinct he reached for two of the many small throwing knifes strapped to his suit and a moment later they were yanked free and one was sent flying right for the Elite's head.

The Elite managed to spot the blade heading towards him but was too weak to evade it completely so he held up his plasma rifle before him to block bladed projectile. The gambit did manage to block the attack however the moment the blade made contact with the Elite's rifle it embedded itself in the battery causing an explosive discharge which destroyed the weapon and sent the Elite rolling backward shields flaring. It wasn't done yet however as the moment its roll came to an end it pulled a plasma pistol from his waste and tried to lift it up for a counter attack. He never got the chance though since that's the moment the second knife found its mark in the middle of his forehead. The blade came in with enough force to slice right through the Elites already severally weakened shields and what little protection its battered helmet could offer to embed itself nearly a two full inches deep directly into the center of his skull. Then the Elite let out one last blood curdled roar before collapsing to the ground to spasm for a moment before becoming very still and very dead.

After witnessing this fairly impressive display Coco let out a hum of approval before turning back to Jaune with the intent to applaud his handy work only to halt in her tracks when she realized he was already taking care of it. "Oh yeah, who's awesome?! That's right, I'm bad!" Jaune cheered while he danced a strange little jig beside the drop pod. After only a moment of this however the dance quickly seemed to crumble when it stirred up something in his gut. His already upset stomach began to grumble violently and he quickly switched from cheerful dance to desperately gripping his stomach and groaning once again.

Suddenly feeling worried for her comrade Coco rushed over to his side while making sure to grab her combat knife and load a fresh clip into her last remaining saw along the way. "Jaune are you alright!?" She asked once she came to stand beside the sickly warrior. Jaune was now hunched over with one hand still grasping his stomach while the other worked on undoing the latches that were holding his helmet in place.

Coco looked over the struggling man with an unseen look of concern. "Jaune come on talk to men what's wrong! Are you alright man!? Talk to me damn it!" Since she only got groans in response to her questions she made a move to touch Jaune's back but when the final latch holding his helmet in place released he jerked away from her.

A sudden hiss was released as the air tight seal was broken and oxygen began escaped from the space between Jaune's neck and his helmet. With the helmet now loose Jaune grasped it with both hands and yanked it free. In doing so revealing the face of a young man with short blond hair that was shaved extra short along the sides of his scalp creating something akin to a high and tight style. His eyes were a deep shade of blue but were blood shot and he had dark circles forming beneath them. His left cheek also had a faded scar going down its length. Jaune had always been pasty and pale but Coco could he was more so than usual and that there was a slight touch of green in his cheeks. Seeing the strange coloration Coco made another attempt to approach him only to for him to once again pull away as he discarded his helmet. With the head gear out of the way he braced himself up against the sides of the drop pod while he leaned his head inside and proceeded to release the contents of stomach on the floor.

Coco instantly lurched backward in disgust. "Ah, gross!" She shouted as she began waving her hand around as if to dispel the foul stench that had started to waft out of the pod. "Damn man I can smell that through my helmet that's just rank! I heard from Yang that you have a history of motion sickness, I guess some things really don't change huh vomit boy?"

After a moment of spitting and dry heaving, Jaune glared back at Coco with a sudden edge to his blue eyes. "Don't call me that! We aren't kids anymore I don't need stupid nick names!" He spat out venomously.

Slightly caught off guard by her comrade's sudden aggress attitude Coco found herself fighting the urge to jump back again and draw on him. Fortunately for both of them she had remembered who she was and decided that she didn't need to use a weapon to defuse this situation. Instead she stepped forward into Jaune's guard and grabbed him by the throat to pull his head down to her level before speak with her own flavor of venom. "Well, well, I guess somebody found their balls when they away in the war. I would like to say that I'm proud of you vomit boy but first it would seem you need reminding of just who it is you're talking to." She hissed before driving her knee into Jaune's groin. The blow was delivered with such force his shields flared up and he was lifted a whole foot of the ground before falling back down to the ground clutching at his groin and cursing like a sailor. "You can consider that a warning, if you want to keep those new balls of yours I suggest you don't forget it again." Coco warned.

"This is how you repay me you ungrateful little shi-" Jaune growl but was interrupted by the sound of heavy foot falls and clanking metal that seemed to be drawing closer. His instinct once again kicked in allowing him to ignore the pain and rolled over as he drew a fresh knife primed in the throwing position. Meanwhile Coco had also drawn and leveled her saw rifle on the source of the commotion which seemed to be a lone figure approaching rapidly. It was little more than a red blur across the battlefield it was approaching so fast, Coco was right about to take the shot when she seen the blur slice a Jackal clean in half before decapitating an Elite. That's when she realized what or rather who the blur was and breathed a sigh of relief. She also glanced down at Jaune to see that he had come to the same conclusion and had lowered his knife.

Then in a matter of seconds the red blur otherwise known as Ruby Rose cleared the remaining thrity yards of distance between herself and the pair of Jaune and Coco. "Coco, don't worry I'm here to help!" she shouted as she came to a grinding to a stop directly in front of the girl in question kicking up a cloud of dirt that completely engulfed Jaune in her wake. The red-clad girl already had her weapon hoisted up high in a fighting stance, ready to combat any hostile aliens foolish enough face her but much to her surprise and confusing her arrival went totally uncontested. After a moment of awkward silence Ruby finally noticed Coco shaking he head and called out to her. "Coco, you're okay!"

"Hey Ruby, it's been awhile. And of course I'm okay. I mean, was their really ever any doubt?" Coco asked jokingly.

"No of course not but umm, where did the Elite go?" Ruby asked shyly while glancing back and forth over the battlefield for a moment before something pungent made its way into her nostrils causing her to gag. "And what on Remnant is that smell!?"

Coco tried and failed to stifle a laugh as she gestured down towards the man responsible for both laying on the ground beside her. The man in question was in the middle of spitting out a mouthful of dirt and trying to pick himself up off the ground and regain some form of dignity. "Why don't you ask vomit boy over here?"

Unable to manage any sort of real response at the moment Jaune simply glared at Coco until Ruby finally noticed his presence. "Oh my god Jaune, I'm so sorry! I didn't even see you there! Wait you don't look so good, are you hurt! Was it my fault!? What happened to you!?"

Finally standing up straight again Jaune let out a sigh before promptly waving his hand dismissively to defuse the girl's woes. "Don't worry about it Ruby I'm fine, It's just been a very long day."

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Some Time Earlier

Jaune found himself in a wooded area and surrounded on all sides by a massive pack of Grimm Beowolves. Their red eyes gave off a menacing glow and their mouths foamed as they closed in. However Jaune was steadfast, he was ready and more than willing to fend off the encroaching horde. For some reason however he was without his power armor and fire arms, even his trusty combat knifes were nowhere to be found. Instead he wielded a great long sword in one hand and a sturdy kite shield in the other.

"Come at me bone chewers! Come get a bite if you think you can!" Jaune taunted and of course the Grimm we're all too happy to oblige. They all dashed forward at once creating what appeared to be a wave of black fur and white bone which quickly overtook Jaune. The Grimm piled on top of him like they were trying to build a pyramid each one biting and clawing at the boy on the bottom every chance they got. However their teeth and claws could find no perchance as Jaune bashed his way through them while stabbing and slashing at everything in site.

"Come on is that all you got!? Hit me with your best shot!" Jaune roared as he clanked his sword on his shield in a beckoning fashion. The Grimm let out howls of rage as they swarmed him but before long they turning into muffled whimpers as solid steel sliced through their dark flesh and bone matter alike. Despite Jaune's lack of proper equipment and the Grimm's number advantage they could do nothing to penetrate his defenses. Each one was hacked down as quickly as it came and as Jaune was gaining more room to maneuver he began picking up the pace. Before long what seemed like it was an endless horde was reduced to little more than a handful of crippled whimpering Grimm.

"Was that really all you have?" How very disappointing. Jaune declared while shaking his head. "You aren't even worth my time, get out of my site!" He shouted as he delivered a kick to the gut of Grimm trying to crawl away from him which sent it flying into another injured Grimm. With that the rest of the Grimm fled as quickly as their broken limbs could take them all in different directions. "That's right and don't come back!" Jaune shouted triumphantly.

"Not bad Jaune. Though I suppose that much is to be expected from one such as yourself." Jaune was pulled out of his celebration when a familiar female voice entered his ears. He spun around in a combat stance to face the possible threat but the tension quickly melted away when the form of Weiss Schnee stepped out from behind a tree. Much like Jaune's her white armor was gone and in its place was a white sun dress that almost seemed to make her glow.

"W-Weiss!? W-What are you doing here!?" Jaune asked suddenly feeling nervous. "I thought you were on a mission with your team!"

Weiss let out a playful giggle as she made her way over to Jaune. "Oh, I was but I just couldn't stand being separated from you any longer." She said as she placed the palm her right hand on Jaune's cheek and ran the index finger of her left hand over his chest. Her voice was playful but at the same time there was an edge too it. Her tone hid something more primal, Jaune would dare say it was almost seductive.

"Weiss, I didn't know you felt that strongly about me." Jaune stated causing Weiss to let out another giggle.

"What are you saying dummy of course I care about you. After all you're my boy friend aren't you?" She asked as she inched closer to him pressing herself against his chest and looking up into Jaune's eyes expectantly.

"B-boyfriend!" Jaune stammered, if he was being honest this was news to him. He would like to think that if such a flag had been raised he would at least be able to recall it. However he supposed the when and the how weren't so important right now. This was because his charms had finally won over the cold and stubborn heiress and who was he to complain about that? He finally had what he had been wanting since he was young. With that thought he rapped his arms around the smaller girl and hoisted her up so that she was at eye level with him. "Yes, I am. Now how about you give your boyfriend a little kiss?" He asked playfully.

After Jaune spoke there was a moment of silence as Weiss stared intently into his eyes. Her expression was intense but cryptic in its meaning. This caused Jaune to suddenly feel quite stupid for saying something as childish as that to some one as serious a Weiss and he half expected her to push him away and give him a good slap for his troubles but she didn't. Rather she hummed happily to herself before leaning in closer to whisper in his ear. "Gladly tiger." Those words much like most of what she had said to him when they were alone together had sent a shiver down his spine but this time was different. This time he had enjoyed it and wanted this to continue.

Jaune felt a moment of dejection however when Weiss pulled back slightly to look him in the eyes. "You ready?" She asked causing Jaune's mind to go blank. Without waiting for a response Weiss leaned forward once again, her lips now hovering less than an inch away from Jaune's and still moving closer. This instantly kick started Jaune's mind and sent it flying at a million miles a minute and causing time around them to seemingly slow down to a crawl. Jaune didn't care however. Rather he wanted nothing more than to savor this moment for as long as possible.

When their lips finally met he felt like his senses were lit ablaze. He could feel heat of her breath, he could hear her heart beating steadily, he could smell her expensive perfume, and he- he- could hear beeping? Yes there was certainly a loud beeping sound coming from someplace nearby. Jaune couldn't quite make out from which direction it was coming from though so his eyes darted back and forth over the tree line for any signs of a source but found nothing. And that's when Weiss pulled away to speak. "What is that noise?! Jaune make it stop!" She complained.

"I'm working on it, just give me a moment!" He asked the girl as he set her down and began to scrambled to find the source of the interference so he make it regret doing so.

As Jaune turned away from Weiss he heard her huff in annoyance and raised her voice. "No, stop it now!" She shouted.

There was the Weiss Jaune knew stubborn and demanding. Nothing was ever good enough for her. Feeling slightly annoyed all of a sudden Jaune spun around to give the white clad girl a talking too only to freeze solid when the girl was no where to be seen. Instead in her place was a new girl who he was unfamiliar with. Her hair was long and brown and her eyes a deep shade of green. She was smiling at him and it looked strange like he was the butt of a joke just for her ears.

"Who are you!? Where is Weiss!?" Jaune interrogated.

The girl just gave him a shrug before speaking. "Jaune, it's time." She said as the beeping began to get louder.

"Time, time for what!? And where is Weiss!?" Jaune roared in frustration.

The girl just shook her head as the beeping became nearly unbearable. "It's time to wake up!"

/////////////////////////////////////

Jaune shot up to find that he was sitting in his bed in his apartment. For a moment he felt confused but, then he just felt stupid. "It was just a dream?" He asked himself right before his mind finally caught up to him, and when it did it hurt, a lot. It hurt so much in fact that he felt like somebody had put his skull in a vice and was actively trying to crush it. He didn't panic however since he knew this feeling quite well, and he had experienced it many times over the course of the last few months. He was currently in the early stages of a serious hangover. "Ugh, not again! Fuck my life!" He groaned as his head fell into his hands.

That's when he heard faint giggling coming from beside him. Hearing this, his head snapped over to see a brown haired girl lying on the bed beside him facing away towards the wall. Who the heck is that?! He thought to himself. He soon got his answer however when the girl rolled over to stare up at him her green eyes piercing his own. "Finally awake huh Tiger? Are you going to finally stop that annoying beeping?" She asked him. When Jaune heard the girl's voice and looked into her eyes realization finally hit him, it was the same girl from his dream. So she was real then?

And based on their currently location and current level of dress Jaune figured he must have gotten lucky last night. Unfortunately however for the life of him he couldn't remember any of it or much of anything from the night before. He could kind of remember bits and pieces of a party with the other scavenging teams, at least the teams that were currently on world anyway. Which of course didn't include his old childhood crush Weiss Schnee, after all she really was currently on a mission with her team. And since it was the type of party that involved heavy drinking and stupid party games he highly doubts that she would've showed up even if she wasn't off world.

Jaune let out a sad sigh before getting punched in the arm by the girl beside him. "Ouch, what the heck was that for!?"

"I asked you a question jackass! Are you going to do anything about that beeping or what!?" The brown haired girl roared in annoyance.

"Beeping? Oh, right the beeping!" Jaune wasn't sure how he could have missed it since it was the cause of the current situation to begin with. Though he supposed the throbbing of his head combined with the disappointed of his dream being cut short along with the realization that there was a half naked stranger beside him had made for a good distraction.

With that in mind he began combing the room for the source of the noise. At first he thought it might have been his alarm clock but upon closer inspection it wasn't even plugged in. And then he had a flash of recollection. This beeping was the same sound that his phone would make during an emergency. The teams were being scrambled! In an instant he threw off the covers and grabbed his pants from the place that they were lying on the floor right next to several other unmentionables and promptly began sifting through the pockets until finally found located it. And just as he thought he was receiving an emergency message from HQ to get his team prepared for combat. And there were also several other messages from his teammates who were waiting for their marching orders. "Oh, crap!" He shouted as he rushed over to what appeared to be an armor case in the back of the room.

This seemed to finally prompt the brown haired girl to sit up in bed and stretch out before letting out a loud lazy yawn and glancing over at Jaune. "Is something up?" She asked sleepily.

"Yeah, I don't know the details but it looks like we're expecting uninvited company soon!" Jaune responded as he began to slip into his armored suit and slip weapons into their holsters.

"Oh, well good luck with that." The girl said calmly before plopping back onto the bed and pulling the covers over her head.

This caused Jaune to freeze in place and glance back towards his bed in disbelief. "Wait, aren't you a scavenger too!? We could be getting invaded, shouldn't you be going to get ready as well!?"

Jaune could see the lump in his bed shrug slightly but make no movement to vacate. "We aren't really soldiers you know that right? We don't take orders we take requests and right now I'm on vacation. It's not my fault nor is it my problem that somebody decided to stir up trouble. Besides my team is more than capable of handling things like this on their own, they don't need me barking orders at them to get the job done."

Not her problem? Well this girl was some piece of work, did she even realize that the whole world could be in jeopardy!? It's a good thing this girl wasn't in the military because if her drill sergeants were anything like the ones he had she would've been eaten alive in a day. And what are her teammates going to do being a member short? It's bad enough that she doesn't even seem interested in checking in with them but the way she said it made it sound like she was the team leader. Who in their right mind would put somebody like her in a position of authority?! Jaune thought to himself. He had to shake those thoughts from his head however since he just didn't have the time to dwell on them. "Fine whatever, I don't care what you do but would you kindly get the hell out you're distracting me!" He spat in the annoying girls direction.

"Oh, quite the gentlemen aren't you? Fine, it's whatever I guess. My boyfriend's bed is more comfortable anyway." The girl huffed as she literally rolled out of Jaune's bed and into the pile of clothes on floor and promptly began sifting through them to get dressed.

Wait did she just say boyfriend's bed? As in she is already in a relationship and is hooking up with strangers! How anyone could be so irresponsible was completely beyond Jaune. And she was so lazy too, though he supposed he had no room to talk in that category. Still though even his teammate Ren had more energy than that and that guy once fell asleep standing up with his eyes still open, if that didn't say something he didn't know what would.

Meanwhile as he mused over these thoughts and strapped on the last few pieces of his armor he heard a loud series of knocks at the front door to his apartment. "Crap hold on!" He shouted as he picked up the pace.

However before he could finish the brown haired girl who he still didn't seem to know the name seemed to finish getting dressed and had sprang up to her feet before breaking into a run for the door saying. "I got it!"

This sudden declaration caused Jaune's ears to shoot up like a rabbit's when it senses danger. "Wait what!? Hold on umm, (he still couldn't remember the girls name but he did however just notice a large set of antenna protruding from her head and said the first thing that came to mind.) faunus girl you don't need to do that!" He shouted after the girl.

Right as the girl reach the door she seemed to stop for a moment at the mention of the word faunus but otherwise ignored Jaune completely and yanked the door open to reveal a group of young adults. Amongst the group were two red haired girls and a dark haired boy and each were dressed in combat armor similar to the type Jaune had just put on himself. The girl leading the group was slightly taller than her other teammates and was equipped with brown and bronze armor with an icon depicting a shield and spear on the chest plate. "Oh, hey Pyrrha! How have you been lately?" The faunus girl inquired cheerfully.

The taller armored girl looked down at the faunus girl who had greeted them with a confused and almost stunned expression. "Y-you, what are you doing here!?" She demanded some what angrily.

"You know this girl Pyrrha?" The other red haired girl asked curiously.

"Yeah sort of, she is a scavenger like us after all. Though she never comes to any group briefings so I can understand why you have never run into her." Pyrrha responded before returning her attention to the faunus girl. "So as I was saying why are you in Jaune's room?"

The faunus girl just shrugged. "Just having some fun, don't worry though I didn't break him. However just a word of advice, if you guys plan to go at it in those suits somebody might." She said jokingly and watched with a wide smile as Pyrrha's face began to turn as red as her hair. Pyrrha looked like she was about to make a retort but the faunus girl beat her to it. "Well then since I have no real relevance to the plot I think that this shameless cameo has gone on long enough. So if you will all excuse me I have a wall to put back up." She declared as she pushed past the group.

"Well then, that was weird." The second red head declared earning a nod from her teammates.

"Indeed Nora, indeed." Pyrrha agreed.

#### To Be Continued…


	13. One Last Push Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune and his team get a very special mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I have some explaining to do here. I know this took a long time to come out and I would like to apologize for that. It took much longer than I expected to get this to where I wanted it. I hope the end result is satisfying though.
> 
> Also I just started a new RWBY series based on the Day 5 web series by Rooster Teeth. Just called RWBY Day 5. If you haven't already, maybe you could check it out and let me know what you think.

“So, care to tell us what that was all about, Jaune?” Pyrrha inquired as she along with the rest of her team made their way out of Jaune’s apartment building and into the heart of Vale.

The city of Vale is not only one of the largest cities in the world, but it is also built around the planet’s most powerful defensive option. That option being a massive Forerunner structure known simply as the Beacon. Because of the Beacons tactical value, the city of Vale along with the surrounding territories are also considered some of the most secure in the world. With a constant military presence and a collection of heavy duty Railgun turrets guarding the perimeter, it was one of the few places that many felt like they could be safe these days.

However, as Jaune and his group made it out into the city streets it felt like it was anything but safe. The civilians were running around in a state of complete panic. While the armed forces scrambled to get to their combat stations. Meanwhile, the fleet of battle ships that usually hovered in a neat formation over head were now spread out in every direction with very little rhyme or reason behind their current positions. And if all that wasn’t alarming enough, in the distance a mind numbingly loud siren could be heard over all the chaos.

As Jaune took it all in, all he could do is shake his head before turning to his teammate to answer her early question. “By ‘that’ I assume you mean the random girl in my bed? You know, as much as I would love to recite to you every shameful detail of my private life, I’m afraid that I don’t recall all that much about it myself. As is the case for most of my evenings these days, so I guess nothing too important could have happened. And besides, it doesn’t really concern you in the first place, does it Pyrrha?” He replied in a mirthless tone.

“You don’t have to say it like that, Jaune!” Pyrrha snapped back.

“Whatever, let’s just get this over with.” Jaune said as he directed them to a Warthog parked along the curve. Then he quickly pulled himself into the passenger seat of the Armored Vehicle and smacked the side to signal his teammates to do the same. “Come on, we don’t have time to waste right now! Ren, you’re driving!” He commanded, not leaving them any room to delay.

Pyrrha looked like she was about to make a retort but her words died in her throat when Ren spoke up. “Roger!” He declared as he slid over the hood of the Warthog and pulled himself into the driver seat.

Meanwhile Nora had already hopped onto the back to take up the turret position and leaving Pyrrha as the odd one out. “Well, are you getting on or what?” Jaune asked.

“These are designed for three people, there isn’t any room left.” Pyrrha grumbled as she began to scan the road for alternative means of transportation.

“What’re you talking about, there’s a seat right here.” Jaune declared in a playful tone while he patted his lap.

Jaune’s less than charming comment caused Ren and Nora to both cringe while Pyrrha just stared him down, and despite the fact that her helmet unsecured her expression, it didn’t take a detective to figure out she was glaring at him. “How about no?” Pyrrha said flatly.

With that, Jaune threw up his arms in mock surrender before speaking. “Suit yourself, but what are you going to do? We’re wasting time sitting around here and there aren’t many other options. So what is it going to be Pyrrha, you in or you out?”

“Screw it!” Pyrrha huffed before she drew her DMR rifle and quickly checked the clip and removed the safety. And for a moment, the rest of her team was sure she had finally snapped and was about take it out on Jaune’s face. However, much to their relief, she just flicked the rifle into her right hand and engaged the magnetic strips in her left boot and gauntlet so she could latch herself onto the side of the Warthog. “Drive!” She shouted and Ren quickly obeyed. It wasn’t as if Ren had any obligation to take orders from Pyrrha, but the last position he wanted to be in right now was between Jaune’s cynicism and Pyrrha’s ire.

Watching this caused a laugh to escape from Jaune before he spoke again. “You sure about that, it’s going to be a bumping ride?”

“I’ll manage.” Pyrrha replied, her tone suggesting that she was no longer in the mood to put up with him. Well to be fair, she wasn’t in the mood to begin with. However, now she really didn’t feel like putting up with Jaune’s crap.

Jaune just shrugged it off before his attention was drawn away by the sounds of combat ensuing in the distance. That’s when he noticed how the Railguns surrounding the walls had begun to open fire. “Shit, are those split jaws already this close to the city!?”

“They could just be dispatching Grimm. I heard that all the commotion stirred up quite a few of their nests in the surrounding areas. And I-“ Pyrrha started to explain before being interrupted by the sound of Jaune’s helmet venting oxygen as he pulled it free from his head. “Jaune, what are you doing?”

“What, I got to medicate!” Jaune shot back as he reached around to a satchel attached to his hip and pulled out what appeared to be a an unmarked bottle of pills and a can of beer. Jaune then promptly flicked off the cap of the bottle and shook a few into his mouth before cracking open the beer and using it to wash them down. “Ah, that hit the spot!” Jaune declared before tossing the now empty can out of the Warthog.

Watching this scene play out left Pyrrha momentarily dumbstruck, but when she recovered she began to physically shake with anger. “What the hell was that!? Are you out of your mind!?”

“Geez, it’s just one can! I think we have more important things to worry about besides littering.” Jaune retorted.

“That is not what I was talking about and you know it! Let’s forget for a moment that what you just did is horrible for your body. We’re all about to be in live combat and you’re getting intoxicated!? Do you want us to all be killed!?” Pyrrha hissed.

“What are you, my mother? There’s no need to be so over dramatic. Besides, I’m doing this to keep all of that from happening. With how hazy my head is right now I won’t be able focus on the fighting at all. And admittedly, this is a Band-Aid at best, but it will get the job done until we can sort out this mess.” Jaune retorted before turning away from Pyrrha and towards his green clad teammate at the wheel. “By the way Ren, you seem to know where we’re heading. What’s the current plan?”

Ren was startled by suddenly being called upon and quickly snuck a glance up at Pyrrha to make sure he answering wouldn’t interrupt her. When he seen that Pyrrha was now looking ahead and no longer paying attention to Jaune he breathed a sigh of relief and then responded. “We’re currently in rout to the downtown air docks. Once we get there, there should be a pelican waiting for us. And we will be taking that to meet up with General Ironwood on his flag ship. It seems he requested us for a special high priority mission.”

Jaune scoffed at this. “By high priority, I’m sure he really means too dangerous to risk his own men on. He does know that we don’t work for him, right?”

This statement seemed to get Pyrrha’s attention again since her head snapped back around to look down at him before she spoke. “Jaune, you shouldn’t say things like that!”

Jaune didn’t even bother to give a reply to that and just waved his hand dismissively. “Do we have any details on our ‘high priority’ mission?” He asked Ren.

“It has something to do with the enemy flag ship and that’s about all I know. They will be giving us a complete briefing once we get there.” Ren responded.

“Alright, well I guess we should pick up the pace then, I hate being left in suspense.” Jaune said jokingly as the group continued towards the air docks.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Several Minutes later aboard the Remnant Defense Force FlagShip: the Paladin

Almost instantly after Jaune and his team had docked on the Paladin, they were swarmed by crew members who quickly ushered them away to one of the many briefing/meeting rooms scattered throughout the ship. And once there they were told to wait until some one was available to speak to them. After about five minutes of waiting, Jaune decided to speak. “Typical, they call us up here and aren’t even ready when we arrive.”

Pyrrha looked like she was about to say something when a new female voice beat her to it. “Mr. Arc, as impatient as ever it seems.” The voice said as the door to the room slid open and a woman with platinum blond hair and a white uniform entered the room.

The group’s attention was instantly drawn to the new arrival after she made it the middle of the room and turned to face them, Jaune was the first to speak. “Winter Schnee, of course.” He said in an almost amused tone. “Is your boss too busy to speak with us himself?”

“That’s Lieutenant to you, Arc. And yes, the general is too busy. When you have an army to lead it tends to do that. And for that matter, I’m quite busy myself and every second we waste here is another life lost. So if we could get on with this then I think it would be in the best interests of everyone involved.” Winter retorted.

“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Jaune replied with a shrug.

Winter’s eyes narrowed on Jaune. It would seem she didn’t quite believe that he would give in so easily, but didn’t feel like pressing the matter so she moved on. “First of all, I’m glad to see all - most of you arrived here safely.” She said as she directed a glare at Jaune before going on. “And I would also like to thank you for your timely arrive. As I’m sure you have noticed, Remnant is currently under attack by our greatest enemy.” She said as she picked up a remote from a desk in the corner of the room and turned on a holographic. The display showed the Paladin’s current location high in the upper atmospheres of Remnant, and it also showed several more human vessels and many more alien vessels locked in combat further out. “And as you can see here, we’re currently preparing to engage the enemy fleet directly.”

“So what’s the issue?” Jaune asked.

Winter sighed before clicking the remote again to make the display zoom in on a different area of space. “This is the problem.” She stated as a colossal Covenant vessel came into view, and the group would be hard pressed to miss it. After all, the ship had to be at least 28,000 meters from bow to stern and it had to be about 3,000 meters tall.

Just one look at the Covenant ship was all Jaune needed to know what he as looking at. “It’s a Covenant Supercarrier!”

“Wow, is that what that thing is!? I’ve never seen one up close before, well I guess I still haven’t but, you know.” Nora chimed in.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen one since the war, but they are hard to mistake.” Jaune responded.

“Why is it here though? Most of the Covenant forces dispersed and returned to their home worlds at the end of the war. A Supercarrier isn’t something that wouldn’t go unnoticed if it was taken. That means whoever these Covenant are, they’re not just common scavengers.” Ren added.

“Then radicals perhaps, I had heard that a few Covenant sects remained loyal to the Prophets and split off at the end of the war.” Pyrrha pondered.

“Possibly, but if they are Covenant radicals, what are they doing here on Remnant?” Ren inquired.

Jaune shrugged before answering his teammate’s question. “What do those split jaws always want? They obliviously want Forerunner tech of course.”

Sensing that she had lost the room, Winter let out a slight cough to return the group’s attention to the front so she could go on. “The enemy’s objective is still unknown and will be receiving a proper investigation in due time. However, whatever the case may be for them being here, we know that these Covenant are hostile. And with that in mind, we need to remove them from our air space as soon as possible.”

“And let me guess, that Supercarrier is making that difficult?” Jaune inquired.

Winter ignored the edge in Jaune’s voice and just gave him a nod. “Indeed, as I’m sure some of you might be aware, a Covenant Supercarrier is effectively a flying fortress. It’s thick armor plating, strong energy shields, together with its large size, and incredible firepower make it a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. The fact is that most of the ships in the small fleet we have managed to pull together over the last few years don’t even compare. Even the Paladin would have difficulty winning in a fair fight. And that’s where all of you come in.” She explained.

“You do know that we specialize in close infantry combat, right? Most of us only have minor piloting experience.” Jaune chimed in.

That’s when a wicked smile came over Winter’s features. “I assure you that I’ve done my research and am well aware of all of your shortcomings, so you need not explain them. Now, as I’ve explained before, the enemy flag ship is nearly untouchable from the outside. However, the inside is a very different story.”

As Winter went on to explain just what Jaune and his team was about to do and it clicked in his head, he could feel his headache come back in full force. “Oh, crap.”

Almost immediately after the mission briefing had ended, Jaune and his team found themselves back in the hanger with each of them being strap onto their own Booster Frame.

The official name for the Booster Frames was the Open Frame 92/Extra-Vehicular Activity. And Jaune would like the record to show that he thought it was a terrible name. As far as he was concerned, a name like that had no business being connected to something so awesome. And one thing Jaune never really cared for, and certainly didn’t miss from his time in the military, was learning all the overly complicated names the higher ups insisted on giving to their equipment. What was important was that the equipment worked and that men knew how to use it, and not what you called the damn thing.

Of course that begged the question, did the Frame work, and was Jaune able to use it? Well, if he was to be honest he had never personally used one in the field before, so he couldn’t say for sure. However, he had done his homework and knew the Booster Frame quite well. It was a small, heavily-armed, one person craft designed primarily for deep-space and close-quarters environments. And its weapon loadout is designed to do three things, disrupt, overwhelm, and adapt. EMP mines, rocket pods, and Gatling-guns, these made for the perfect combination when dealing with the twin problems of field-effect shielding and armor plating. When used in concert, the combination of EMP, explosive, and projectile force can make surgical incisions in large-scale, otherwise impenetrable defenses a walk in the park. That is of course if you can even get close enough to utilize them, and as one could imagine that is easier said than done.

The Booster Frames were fast and had the firepower to get the job done, but they had one major weakness. And that was the fact that they may has well have been made out of tinfoil for how much they actually protected the pilot. When they say it has an open frame, they mean open. The thing doesn’t even have a cockpit. It’s basically a space motorbike and it can’t even be used without a pressurized suit, much like the dust powered battle armors the scavenging teams were equipped with. Hence the reason Jaune’s team had likely been chosen for this mission in the first place.

Suddenly feeling like his sweet battle armor was more trouble than it was worth, all Jaune could do was let out a tired sigh as he eased himself onto the Booster Frame and began running diagnostic checks on all the systems. After a moment, they all came back green and that’s when he spied Pyrrha doing the same. At least until he spotted her head jerk up towards a familiar white clad figure approaching her.

Winter was walking towards Pyrrha with a small blast proof suitcase in hand and a small squad of nervous looking soldiers in toe. “Miss Nikos!” Winter called out as she came closer, causing the red haired warrior to step off her Booster to meet Winter.

“What can I do for you, ma’am?” Pyrrha inquired.

“I’m glad you asked, you can take this off my hands.” Winter said as she held out the suitcase to Pyrrha. However, Pyrrha made no move to take the case and instead leaned her head to the side in what appeared to be confusion. Sensing the other woman’s confusion, Winter explained further. “This case contains the Tactical Havoc Nuke you will need to complete your mission. Just as we discussed during the briefing earlier, this should be more than enough to cripple the Supercarrier.”

“I am aware of what it is, but,” Pyrrha began before trailing off like she was unsure of how to say something.

“Is there a problem, Miss Nikos?” Winter inquired, Pyrrha’s confusion now mirrored on the older woman before her.

Realizing what the issue likely was, Jaune decided to chime in. “I think she doesn’t understand why you are specifically giving it to her?” Jaune didn’t miss the fact that Winter had walked right past his other two teammates Ren and Nora on her way to Pyrrha. On top of that, as the squad leader it would usually be Jaune’s responsibility to handle things like this. However, since she couldn’t be bothered to walk a few more feet to give it to him, it was clear that Pyrrha had been chosen to carry the payload.

Winter turned slightly to direct a glare at Jaune before looking back towards the red haired Amazon beside her for confirmation. “Is this true, Miss Nikos?” When Pyrrha gave her a nod, Winter let out a sigh before speaking once again. “Like I mentioned in the briefing, the package must be detonated as close to the Supercarrier’s core as possible. We will only have one shot at this, and if for whatever reason the package is lost or is set off before it reaches the core, then we will have no choice but to have the Paladin engage it in direct combat. The estimated losses we would suffer as a result of direct combat with an arguably superior opponent are astronomical. And that is provided we win, however we know better than to make such assumptions.”

“I understand that, but I still don’t understand why you are giving it to me.” Pyrrha stated.

That’s when a small smile actually appeared on Winter’s face before she began to speak once more. “It seems that you’re as modest as they say, Miss Nikos.”

“Pardon?” Pyrrha responded, sounding even more confused than she did before.

“You know, I have seen the field reports, and I was quite impressed by you, Miss Nikos. Your combat scores have far exceeded all of your peers and in your last three years of active service, you haven’t received a single recordable injury while in the field. And by all accounts that I have received, you are nearly untouchable on the battlefield. That is what makes you the perfect choice for this assignment.” Winter quickly explained.

“I see.” Pyrrha said, clearly still a little unsure.

Then Winter coughed in an attempt to ease the tension slightly. “Of course, I do understand that this is a heavy responsibility. You and your team aren’t soldiers that I can command however I see fit. And that means whether you accept this responsibility or not is completely up to you.”

Pyrrha looked down at the case that was now being offered to her once more and let out a sigh as she grasped the handle and quickly attached it too her back using a magnetic strip. “For the sake of Remnant, I won’t let the people down!” She declared.

“I know you won’t, Miss Nikos.” Winter declared before her posture suddenly went straight as a board and her hand snapped upward in a practiced salute. “On behalf of the Remnant Defense Force, I thank you for your service and wish you and your team the best of luck.” Pyrrha returned the salute before turning around to mount her Booster Frame. With her job done, Winter and her men quickly dispersed, leaving Jaune and his team alone in the hanger.

“Well that was a thing.” Jaune declared.

“Let’s just get this thing done.” Pyrrha responded without even glancing in Jaune’s direction.

“Gladly.” Jaune said before turning to glance at his other two teammates who were now on board their own Booster Frames. Ren looked just about as calm and collected as he always did, but Jaune could tell there was an edge to the air around the green clad warrior. Even if he was good at hiding it, it was clear he was nervous about this. Meanwhile, Nora’s whole body looked like it was vibrating. Most would have mistaken it as fear, but Jaune knew better. That shaking was of excitement. It looked like the anticipation of the battle to come was about to make the girl explode. “You guys green to go!?” Jaune called out to the pair.

In response to Jaune’s call, Ren shook his head clear before shooting his leader a thumbs-up. “I’m ready.” He declared.

Jaune gave Ren a nod before focusing on Nora. “And you?” He asked.

“I’m super ready! Let’s do this already!” Nora declared cheerfully.

With that declaration, Jaune allowed himself a small smile before glancing up to the hanger’s observation deck and giving them a gesture for ready to go. Then without further ado, a siren began to sound before, the hanger bay doors below their Booster Frames began to open up and the framework holding them in place began to lower them down into the vacuum of space. Then Jaune and his team began frantically flipping switches on their consoles causing their engines to hum to life before the framework holding them in place broke way, leaving them to drift freely. “Alright guys, let’s go show those damn split jaws that they aren’t welcome here!” Jaune declared before engaging the thrusters causing the space behind his him to erupt as he was thrust forward at a mind boggling speed and his companions weren’t far behind him.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Bridge of the RDF Flag Ship the Paladin

An automated door slid open, allowing Winter Schnee to step out into a large, multi-leveled room mostly occupied by computer monitors and holographic displays. And a large majority of these stations had their own dedicated operator busying themselves with relaying orders, making calculations, or observing the enemy forces.

Winter had little time for inspecting the troops, however. No, her interests were in the two men stood on the room’s center plateau. The first of the two men was tall, well built, and had streaks of gray running through his short hair. The other was slightly younger, shorter, and much leaner. And both men were dressed in different but equally regal uniforms. Winter instantly recognized the two men as Captain Qrow Branwen and General James Ironwood. The two of them seemed to be in the middle of discussing battle strategy when Winter came into their field of view, and once she was sure they had noticed her she gave them a quick salute and announced herself.

“Oh, hey Winter, what brings you all the way up here? Couldn’t keep yourself away, huh?” The captain asked in a casual, almost joking manner.

“I’m here to deliver my report, sir!” Winter declared directly to the general, seeming to ignore the captain all together.

“At easy.” Ironwood declared, allowing Winter to drop her salute. “What do you got for us, Lieutenant?” He inquired.

“Sir, operation ‘Low Blow’ has commenced. As we speak, Team JNPR is already in route to the enemy flagship to deliver the package. ETA is about five minutes and fifty-two seconds.” She explained.

The General hummed as he gave his subordinate a nod of understanding and then he looked like he was about to say something on the matter when another voice cut into the conversation. “Oh, isn’t that quite interesting? I don’t recall giving any approval for this, James.” The voice declared, causing Winter, the General, and the Captain to all turn towards a large monitor directly in front of the center plateau. The monitor had been displaying graphs a moment ago, but was now showing the face of the Wizard himself.

“Ozpin!?” General declared in a slightly confused and startled tone. Then he looked away to direct a glare at one of the many communications officers occupying the bridge. “Who patched him through!?” He barked.

The officer wilted slightly and shrugged. “I’m sorry, sir! I tried to tell him you were busy.”

The general groaned and looked like he was about to berate the poor guy, but stopped when Qrow placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Hey, Oz! What’s up?” The captain said as he waved to the man on the monitor.

“Greetings Qrow, Winter, James.” Ozpin said as he gave a nod to each person before him. “First of all, I would like to apologize for contacting you so suddenly. I am aware of just how busy you all must be, what with the invasion and all. However, there is a small matter I have been trying to sort out for quite some time now and to be honest, I’m stumped. You see, one of my scavenging teams, a team that goes by JNPR, failed to check in this morning after the scramble alert had been sent out. As you can imagine, this was quite troubling. Given the state of things, I was worried something may have happened to them.” After saying that, Ozpin turned slightly to accept a mug of what appeared to be freshly brewed coffee and took a quick sip before continuing. “Then, and this is the crazy part, I come to find out that the military, while using my name, had snatched them up for a ‘special’ mission. And all of this happened without my knowledge or consent. Anyone care to explain this to me?” Ozpin inquired. And despite his calm tone and neutral expression, to those that knew the man well enough, it was clear he was anything but happy with these events.

“I ordered them brought here.” The general declared as he stepped forward.

“Oh, is that so? And why would you do that?” Ozpin asked before taking another sip from his mug and patiently waiting for the general to go on.

“It was a necessity Ozpin, we didn’t have time to wait for your approval. And for that matter, we don’t have time for this conversation right now either, so if-” Ironwood began to say before he was cut off when Ozpin directed a rare glare in his direction.

Then Ozpin spoke once again, this time however he made no effort to hide his ire. “Necessity? Isn’t that an interesting choice of words? You know James, I have heard that word thrown around many times throughout my years, and you know what I have learned about the word? I have learned that it is a term that leads to loss and sacrifice. So tell me James, what do you have my team doing?”

“I umm, I-“ The general stammered, unsure of how to respond.

Meanwhile, a female soldier had walked up beside Winter to whisper something into her ear. After the message had been received, she gave the soldier a nod and dismissed them before addressing the men in front of her. “Excuse me gentlemen, but it would seem JNPR has just engaged the enemy!”

Hearing this, the general and captain sprang into action, shouting commands across the bridge to get everyone into their battle stations. “What are you doing?” Ozpin inquired.

“Your team’s objective is to cripple the enemy flagship. And it’s our job to make sure we can put the final nail in their coffin when they succeed.” Qrow chimed in.

The general gave the captain a nod of agreement before speaking himself. “We don’t believe that the bomb we gave JNPR is powerful enough to completely destroy the Supercarrier. However, it will be enough to give us an opening. If timed correctly, we should be able to finish the flagship and retrieve your people. Then once the enemy flagship falls, their fleet will become disorganized and demoralized. And it will be at that moment that we plan to launch our counter offensive. We believe this to be our best chance.” He explained.

Ozpin regarded James dryly before setting his now empty coffee mug aside and sighed. “What can I do to assist you?”

/////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Covenant Fleet Deep Space

“I think they have spotted us!” Ren shouted in a panicked tone. His helmet’s built in radio allowing the message to be delivered to his teammates through the soundless vacuum of space.

“Really!? What was your first clue!?” Jaune shouted back in frustration.

“It was probably when they started shooting at us!” Nora chimed in cheerfully.

“Thank you Nora, scatter!” Jaune roared as he signaled the group to fan out and take evasive maneuvers. And not a moment later the space around them was bathed in bright blues and the brilliant purples of burning hot plasma.

After successfully avoiding the first volley, Jaune took a moment to carefully observe their surroundings. Much to his dismay, there was no less than five Covenant battleships between them and their objective. And worst yet, it would seem that his team now had their full attention. He knew that he would have to come up with something or they would never even reach the flagship. However, before he could, the voice of Pyrrha came over his radio. “Guys, we have incoming at nine and three o’clock!” She declared.

Jaune’s gaze quickly snapped towards one of the indicated directions and then in the other. Sure enough, a few squadrons of Covenant Seraphs had been deployed and were coming their way fast. Seraphs were the Covenant’s most commonly used starfighter during the war, so even infantry like Jaune were quite familiar with them. And what Jaune knew about them was that they were bulky, which meant they were slow. Their arsenal was also rather limited with them only having a single set of front facing plasma cannons as their primary weapon. And while all this was a good thing for them since it meant that they posed little threat to his team individually, there had to be at least a few dozen starfighters heading their way already, and Jaune had no doubt in his mind that there had to be hundreds more to come. “All weapons hot, we will have to punch through! We can’t allow them to slow us down!” He declared.

“Roger that!” Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha all declared as they flipped a few switches, causing their wings of unfold and reveal their rocket pods.

Then the team spread out to form a triangle formation with Jaune taking point, Nora and Ren at the base guarding the rear, and Pyrrha at the center so that the package could be protected. And not two second after they entered formation, a few enemy aircraft had managed to close in on them and the dog fight ensued. One Seraph set its sights on Nora’s craft and opened fire, sending arcs of plasma in her direction. However, Nora was prepared for this and angled herself upward, dodging out of the way and looping herself around her attacker. “Eat this, sucker!” She cheered before revving up her chain-guns and opening fire. The glow of dust rounds lightened up the space between them before punching through energy shielding and sinking into metal. A few second is all it took for the Seraph to erupt into a ball of fire that was quickly swallowed by the vacuum of space.

“Good shooting, Nora!” Jaune declared before firing off a salvo of missiles, striking a small group of Seraphs approaching from the front.

“Another one on our six!” Pyrrha declared. This caused Ren to break off to quickly dispatch it and return to the formation.

Then as Ren was returning to the formation, they passed over one of the five enemy Battleships and into the sights of half its plasma turrets. The turrets all opened fire and JNPR had to break formation to prevent being devoured by it. Then once they had passed out of the reach of most of the turrets, Ren spoke up. “That was too close! This isn’t going to work, we are too exposed out here and there is just too many of them!”

“No way to fall back now! We have to finish this job!” Jaune declared before his eyes fell on the next Battleship directly in front of them. The Battleship’s hanger bay was facing towards them and since the only thing separating it from the vacuum was a transparent wall of energy, he could see right inside. There were a few dozen Seraph fighters along with a few other Covenant aircraft parked inside and being prepped for battle. He could also see that the hanger took up the whole midsection of the ship and had another door on the far side. “Guys, we’re taking a detour! Aim for that Battleship, we’re cutting through!” He ordered before punching his thrusters to pick up speed.

Without question, the others followed Jaune’s lead into a swarm of Seraphs and a storm of plasma turret fire, but Jaune and his team fired back with enough force to shred the Seraphs and destroy several turrets surrounding the hanger bay. Then once they had closed the distance between them, Jaune fired off one of his EMP mines which attached to the hull of the ship, and when it went off, the energy shield separating the interior from the exterior disappeared. Panicked howls, growls, and shouts could be heard for the briefest of moments before the whole bay vented and the vacuum swallowed up the sound. And then Jaune and his team flew into the opening and began to hover in place as they opened fire on surviving Covenant who were both lucky enough to be wearing their life support systems and avoid being sucked out into space. However, none of them were lucky enough to survive JNPR’s assault. Seraphs, Banshees, Spirits, and Phantoms and everyone in between them was blown apart in a hail of rockets and gunfire.

“Clear!” Pyrrha declared, causing the others to repeat her and promptly cease fire. Then Pyrrha looked back towards the opening they had made to get inside and realized that the energy shield had reformed, blocking the enemy from pursuing them inside. Then she turned towards Jaune. “Was that your plan the whole time?” She asked.

Jaune nodded. “Yeah, I figured it would give us a minute to think.”

“Now what?” Nora asked.

Jaune glanced towards the other end of the Battleship and peered through the shield to see only one Battleship left between them and their objective. “We keep going!” He shouted as he spun off towards the other end with his team following soon after. And just like he had before, he fired off an EMP mine to blow their way through back out into the vacuum.


	14. One Last Push Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into the heart of the Covenant.

#### Outer Orbit of Planet Requiem

Jul ‘Mdama was a male Sangheili (Elite) that was also known as the Didact's hand. Ever since the events of the Great Schism (The Covenant Civil War), the Covenant and everything it stood for had constantly been teetering on a razor’s edge, always just on the brink of falling apart. In a state such as that, it made those like Jul, who still held steadfast to their convictions, somewhat of a dying breed.

Due to the Arbiter’s heresies, almost all of Jul’s once noble people had now been corrupted and had begun to abandon the oaths they had all sworn to uphold until their dying breaths. And to those who still followed Jul and the hold ways, the Arbiter was nothing more than a traitorous coward who would have them all bow to his new human masters.

They believed that the Arbiter was leading them down a path to damnation, and therefore was unfit to lead the Covenant. If bending to their supposed leader’s will would condemn them for all eternity, rebellion was the oblivious solution. That was the reason why Jul ‘Mdama’s fleet, otherwise known as the Storm Fleet had positioned themselves around the Forerunner shield world Requiem.

Jul ‘Mdama and his brothers had been fighting to keep the Covenant the way it was meant to be. However, their fleet was small and getting smaller with every battle. With the Arbiter and the humans both working against them, the war was not going in their favor, but there was still hope. Jul believed that somewhere on Requiem there would be a weapon powerful enough to turn the tides of this war. And if such a weapon did exist, he would do whatever it took to obtain it.

The Final Absolution, a name befitting of one of the largest and most powerful combat vessels among Jul 'Mdama’s fleet. Though Jul ‘Mdama did not take the helm of it himself, he knew the Shipmaster Ziro ‘Modomai to be one of his most loyal and competent. That is why he had seen fit to place the Absolution on stand-bye while he led the main fleet to gain access to the shield world. He did his because he knew the humans were on to him, and that they would stop at nothing to deny him his prize. The Absolution was his insurance policy.

As for Ziro 'Modomai himself, he was to oversee the operation from a distance and monitor for any signs of human presence, or any unusual activity from the planet itself. If any such activity was discovered, he was to report back to the Didact’s hand and await further orders.

Many among the crew of the Absolution were quite dissatisfied with this arrangement. They were proud warriors after all, and were eager to explore a world that was supposedly the home of the Didact himself. It was understandable of them, after all many of them were young and unproven. Ziro 'Modomai for his part was completely content to sit back and allow the upstarts their chance at glory.

Ziro ‘Modomai knew he would join his fallen brothers in the great journey sooner or later, but he was in no hurry. And he had fought in the Great War for long enough to know where this could lead. The war had taught many things, that humans weren’t to be trusted, and that legends weren’t to be trifled with. Given its importance, there was no doubt in his mind that this world would be heavily defended, even if not by the enemy, then through its own accord. For every great treasure, there would be a great horror standing in their way. So they waited.

And wait they had, for several full day cycles on their homeworld of Sanghelios they waited. Through many failed attempts to breach the outer shell of Requiem they waited. They waited until they were about to give up waiting, and that is when the Absolution’s long range sensors picked up an anomaly. They picked up an object of titanic size moving towards the planet at what would be considered a snail’s pace by astronomical standards.

The object in question was moving far too slowly to be propelling itself through traditional means. However, it was far too large to be simple space debris. So Ziro saw fit to send a small scouting party to investigate the mysterious object.

It wasn’t long after that Ziro’s scouts reported back with some very troubling news. Like he had suspected, the mystery object was actually a human combat vessel silently coasting towards them. And at first he thought that this was meant to be some sort of stealth maneuver. That perhaps the humans had cut their engines and were allowing their ship’s momentum to carry them. In theory it could work, it certainly made them far harder to detect in the vastness of the star lit void. Though, that assumption was quickly dashed when the first images of the vessel made it to the bridge of the Absolution.

The human vessel had been ripped asunder, whole chunks of its frame torn off and either floating in the vacuum along with it, or nowhere to be seen at all. Needless to say, this vessel’s days of glory’s battle were well behind it at this point, and even if it were still manned, as unlikely as that would seem given its current condition, it would pose little threat to the fleet and their mission.

Confident in his findings, Ziro quickly did as he was instructed and put together a report to send to Jul’s personal ship, the Song of Retribution. Then with this task done, he waited for further instructions. He didn’t have to wait long however, as only a few minutes later the Absolution’s new orders came in.

It seemed that Jul wasn’t willing to take any chances with this mission. Due to this, Jul had ordered Ziro to split off a small portion of the fleet and personally make sure that any potential threat was dealt with. Of course, Ziro did not object and moved the Absolution along with a handful of battleships into formation around the human vessel and sent a proper boarding party to search the craft.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Bridge of Covenant Flagship Final Absolution

The task was supposed to be simple enough. Ziro’s men would sweep through the ship for survivors and supplies. Any humans found would to be captured for questioning or killed if they resisted and anything that could be useful to their cause was to be taken back to the Absolution for processing. Unfortunately, fate seemed to have other plans in store for them.

It all started shortly after the search party had begun boarding the human vessel. First the ship’s artificial gravity systems suddenly came back to life, then their scouts began reporting unknown blips on their motion trackers, and then almost as if it were taunting them, Requiem released some sort of magnetic pulse. The pulse was so powerful that it had caused many of their ships systems to momentarily go offline, including their communications relay. By the time they had managed to reestablish contact with the away team, everything had already went to hell.

It was at this time that Ziro sat silently at his command station listening intently to the commotion coming from the communications station directly below him on a lower level of the bridge floor. A frantic Unggoy (Grunt) manning the station was trying desperately to make sense of chaos coming in. However, all that could be heard between the bursts of static, panicked shouting, and muffled gunfire, was one word repeated over and over again. Each time the word came up, the speaker sounded more horrified.

The word in question was one Ziro knew all too well. It was a word that he had learned to both despise and respect. “Demons.” He hummed the word spitefully as he reclined into his seat. “Of course it would be Demons.” He grumbled.

“Shipmaster, what should we do!?” The Unggoy inquired from his station.

Ziro hummed in thoughtful consideration. He had tangled with their kind before. He was even part of the invasion force that had reduced the world the humans referred to as Reach to ashes. That planet had practically been teeming with those abominations and they had still came out victorious. These monsters were not invincible, but much were not to be underestimated. With that thought, Ziro leaned forward to speak in a commanding voice. “Tell the men to remain calm and regroup! Don’t engage the demons recklessly!”

“Yes, Shipmaster!” The Unggoy replied as he began relaying his master’s commands.

The moment the orders were sent out Ziro spoke again. “Contact the other Shipmasters, tell them that we are changing formation. I want the fleet to encircle that vessel and to send reinforcements to aid our brothers! We can’t allow the demons to escape!”

“Transmitting now, Shipmaster!” The Unggoy replied while the Absolution’s engines began to fire, allowing it to move into line around the perimeter of the human ship.

From the Absolution’s new position, Ziro could clearly see the words Forward onto Dawn scrawled across the human vessel’s hull. Though his knowledge of the heretic’s written language was quite limited, he knew enough to piece the simple words together. “Forward onto Dawn hmm, to move towards the new day? It is a good name for a ship, too bad that it is wasted on these heretics.” He mused before his hand glided over to the terminal beside him. He had another report to prepare.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Slipspace Requiem to Remnant

Despite Ziro’s warnings, his warriors had failed him. The demons had not only managed to cut down most of the boarding party, but they had also succeeded in escaping the ruined ship and into slipspace. Suffice to say, Jul ‘Mdama was anything but pleased when he heard this news, and Ziro couldn’t say that he blamed him.

Ziro had never been one to allow his pride to cloud his judgment, but he couldn’t allow such an embarrassment to stand. His honor would be forever tarnished if he did nothing to avenge his fallen brothers and correct their mistake. And because of that, he wasn’t the least bit displeased when Jul gave him the order to pursue the demons and insure that they wouldn’t return with reinforcements in toe.

Now that Ziro had his new marching orders, he quickly regrouped the fleet and in a matter of minutes had them ready to give chase into slipspace. And though the enemy ship was fast and had a sizable lead on them, the Covenant vessels still had the edge in speed allowing them to close the gap in only a few days time.

“Shipmaster, the human vessel seems to be slowing down! I believe they will be exiting slipspace soon!” The Unggoy manning the navigations station announced.

“Good,” Ziro said with a nod before pressing a few keys on the monitor beside him to transmit a signal to the other ships in his fleet. Then he sat up from his station to address the crew in a more commanding tone. “Attention all warriors and shipmasters, we are about to engage the enemy once again! We could very well be jumping directly into hostile territory and find ourselves outnumbered and surrounded, but that does not change our mission! We are to ensure no one can interfere with our leader’s holy quest! For if, no when he succeeds, we shall have the power strike down the heretics and reclaim our former glory. So my brothers, no matter what we face, we must remember why we fight, and that even if we fall, know that it was for a greater cause! Remember that the Great Journey will still await us!”

Upon finishing his speech, Ziro eased himself back into his command chair and listened. As he expected, he began to hear the faint sounds of his warrior’s cheers and battle cries echoing the halls on the floors below. It was a good sound and it gave him a great sense of pride to know that his brothers would not be deterred. That they believed in their mission just as strongly as he did. However, it also filled him with a great sense of unease. He wasn’t sure what was in store for them, but he only hoped that they were ready for it.

“Shipmaster, the enemy vessel has just left slipspace! We will also be exiting slipspace in three…two…one!” The Unggoy at the navigation station declared as he fiddled with the controls in front of him.

With a flash of light and a shudder of the Absolution’s hull, it was ejected from slipspace. With their speed returning to normal levels, all of the celestial bodies that surrounded their ship suddenly snapped into view. The sight of said celestial bodies caused Ziro to go rigid in his seat. Before him was a single life supporting planet with a shattered moon. He also couldn’t help but notice a set of orbital defense platforms surrounding the planet, the tell tale sign that this was a human colony planet.

If this world was a colony planet, it would be troubling news indeed. Ziro’s fleet was not an invasion force. It did not have the numbers nor did he have the firepower to over take a fortified planet. Much to his relief however, upon closer inspection he realized something. This world’s orbital defense platforms looked to be in disrepair and he also noticed spots of planets surface that looked like they had been glassed over. The Covenant had been to this world before. With that thought in mind he turned to his navigator to address them. “Where are we?” He asked in a calm tone.

“According to this map, we’re sitting right on the edge between our former territory and the human’s territory. This world is known as Remnant by the humans and it was under our control up until the end of the Great War. Though, it would seem that is no longer the case.” The Unggoy responded.

Ziro hummed in thought as he leaned back. “What of the demons?” He inquired.

“We have their vessel in our sights and have already dispatched a strike squadron to shoot them down. They’ll never even make it into the atmosphere.” The Unggoy on communications station quickly replied.

“Good.” Ziro stated in a satisfied tone. The demons were their primary objective after all, if they could dispatch them here and now, then they could leave to rejoin the rest of the fleet and wouldn’t have to fight off an entire planet. Of course nothing was ever that easy.

The moment when it seemed like the human vessel was just within Ziro’s grasp, something he could not have expected accrued. Suddenly, without warning, a pillar of light as bright as a star erupted from the surface of the human planet and engulfed a portion of his fleet. As the light passed by it carved a swath through their formation, leaving burnt out wreckage in its wake.

“By the gods, what is this!?” Ziro shouted as his usually stoic tone evaporated and was replaced with a mix of awe and utter horror. Then as he watched the mysterious light reduce hundreds of his drop ships and star fighters to nothing more than shredded pieces of space debris, the mandibles that made up his jaw clenched tightly to form something akin to a scowl. His eyes tracked the light as it continued to lay waste to his fleet and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. And he was only snapped out of his stupider when he realized the light was coming towards the Absolution. “Quickly, take evasive maneuvers!”

“Yes, shipmaster!” The whole bridge crew called back to Ziro as they busied themselves and the Absolution followed suit, just narrowly weaving out of the pillar’s path.

By the time the mysterious light had finally dissipated, many of Ziro’s mightiest battleships had even been felled by the wave of destruction. It was then as the dust was settling that he began to piece together what had just happened. He knew that no human weapon could wreak so much havoc in such a short amount of time. However, that realization gave way to an epiphany. The heretics must have used one of the holy relics against them, a powerful one at that. How else could they do this? And that thought gave rise to an idea.

“What is our status!? I want a damage report!” Ziro commanded.

“Systems are nominal, are shields took the brunt of it so damage is minimal.” One of the Unggoy replied.

“And the fleet?” Ziro inquired.

“We’re still waiting to receive damage reports from a few of our vessels, but it is safe to say losses are high. However, at least half of our fleet has already reported back, they are green to go.” The Unggoy responded.

“What of the demons?” Ziro asked.

“The demons status is unknown shipmaster, we lost sight of them in the attack. Shall we send a team to search for them?” The Unggoy inquired.

Ziro waved a hand dismissively. “No need, they are of little consequence now. We have a new objective.”

“Shipmaster?” The Unggoy said in questioning tone.

“Whatever released that light could be exactly what we require to turn this war around. We must capture it.” Ziro explained.

Then the Unggoy looked as if they were about to speak when the sensors began to go wild and an alarm of sorts began to sound. “Enemy fleet detected! They are ascending from the lower atmosphere. Shipmaster what are your orders!?”

“The orders have not changed. We are to locate the source of that light and secure it. All those who get in the way of our righteous path shall be purged!” Ziro commanded.

“All hands to battlestations!” The Unggoy declared as they began relaying their orders to the rest of the fleet.

With that out of the way, Ziro once again eased back into his command seat and began typing up another report. It would take some time to reach Jul, but that was all the more reason to get it out of the way as soon as possible. He would want to hear about this.

///////////////////////////////////////////////

#### Outer Orbit of Planet Remnant

Jaune rolled his booster frame to avoid another plasma volley before retaliating with a few bursts of Gatling-gun fire, each of which ripping one of two Covenant Seraphs to shreds. However, much to his dismay, the Seraphs he shot down were quickly replaced with more enemy ships blocking their way, and there were no fewer pursuers hot on their tails. “These split jaws just keep coming out of the woodwork!” He complained as he fell back to rejoin his team’s formation.

“This is admittedly quite vexing!” Pyrrha added.

“I don’t know what you guys are complaining about, I’m having a blast!” Nora cheered a moment before she let loose another rocket salvo into the enemy formation directly in front of them. When the Covenant spotted the incoming rockets, many of them quickly changed their course in an attempt to evade them, but many weren’t as lucky. The latter of was struck dead on and consequently blown apart. While those who were unfortunate enough to be in close proximity to the blast, saw their shields flicker then fail before streams of hot dust infused lead tore through their hulls.

With Nora’s full frontal assault, the rest of the team was able to join in and punch a hole right through the enemy’s formation allowing, them to slip through.

“Good shooting, Nora!” Jaune congratulated his companion, earning him a manic chuckle from the girl in question. Then he refocused on their objective, the enemy flagship. His team was nearly there, but they still had one major obstacle in their way. The last of the battleships was dead ahead of them and by the look of it, they were ready for them.

The Covenant battleships docking bay had been sealed shut on both sides by a set of massive metallic shutters that prevented anything from getting inside. This would usually be a double-edged sword due to the fact that it would also prevent their fighters from getting out. However, in this case it wasn’t much of an issue because almost all of the bays contents had already been deployed and had created a tight defensive formation around the vessel.

It was clear that this was the enemy’s last line of defense and they were taking it seriously. No matter how the members of Jaune’s team looked at it, there was no easy way around it. “How are we getting past that? Do we have a plan?” Ren inquired calmly.

“I’m working on something, though if you guys happen to have any suggestions, I’m all ears.” Jaune stated in a dry tone.

“I got it!” Nora shouted nearly gaining all of her friend’s undivided attention. Nearly simply because none of them were foolish enough to take their eyes off the enemies who were still shooting at them. “How about this,” Nora began, causing her comrades to instinctively lean closer to the girl as if the action would allow them to hear her better in the vacuum of space. “I say we just blast our way through!” She finally suggested, earning her a few disappointed groans from her teammates before they returned their focus to the fight at hand. “What, it’s worked for us so far, hasn’t it?!”

“Nora, I feel like this situation calls for a bit more tact than that. The very fact that such a strategy has been working up to this point is reason enough to be weary of pursuing it from this point onward. The enemy isn’t that foolish.” Ren explained.

“Yeah, I’m with Ren on this one, we need to think this through a bit more carefully.” Jaune agreed, causing Pyrrha to nod along and Nora to let out a defeated sigh. “Besides, the brute force method requires a lot of firepower, and I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I’m not doing so hot on the ammo front right now.” Jaune declared.

“Now that you mention it,” Nora stated as she took a moment to check what she still had in stock, and when she did she couldn’t help but wince.

Nora only had just about enough rockets for one more strike and the dust rounds used for her gatling-gun were equally low. About all she had a good supply of was EMP mines and that was only because she rarely used the things herself. Well those and she still had the deployable rear mounted turret that their booster frames came equipped with, it was even still fully loaded. Of course there was a good reason for that, the rear facing turret could only be operated manually. That was a problem since it meant it was completely impossible to fly the frame and operate the turret at the same time.

A turret that requires another person to operate on a craft designed for one person. Really, Nora couldn’t help but wonder whose bright idea it was to add a stupid feature like that. Not like it mattered now. “I suppose I haven’t been the most conservative with my ammo today, huh?” Nora asked sheepishly.

“It’s not your fault Nora, I’m low as well. I don’t think any of us have had much of a choice, at least given the situation.” Ren said to reassure his old friend.

“Ren’s right Nora, we’re all in the same boat right now.” Pyrrha added. “With that said, we still need to come up with a solution.” She continued before her gaze fell to her booster frame. When she did she found herself looking at the large cannon that was built into the core of the craft. Then she signed before speaking again. “I guess we will have to use our trump cards after all.” It was clear in the girl’s tone that she wasn’t thrilled with the prospect.

Hearing what his partner had to say caught Jaune’s attention. Before he could add anything though, he noticed another group of enemies closing in on them from the rear. “We have seven more on our six!” He declared before the group broke apart to dodge out of the way of another plasma volley and swoop around for a counter attack. Nora started the engagement by firing off one of her EMP mines into the dead center of the mass and a moment later when it detonated, the shields of all their pursuers flashed for a moment before they all fizzled as their engines cut out.

With their enemies valuable, it only took a moment for Jaune and his team to mop them up and regrouped. Once they had, Jaune took a moment to glance over in Pyrrha’s direction to address her. “By trump card, you mean the Gauss Cannon, right?” His question seemed to cause Pyrrha to tense up before she gave him a small nod. “Damn, I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t come to that, but I think your right. We don’t have many other options.” He grumbled.

The Gauss Cannon was a weapon that could fire a hyper-velocity, high-density projectile. It was similar to that of the massive MAC guns used in their orbital defense platforms and battleships, just on a much smaller scale. The MAC guns or rather the magnetic accelerator cannons were the human’s only non nuclear weapon powerful enough to pierce the shields of the Covenant’s larger capital ships. And for Jaune and his team, it was their most powerful offensive option to be sure. However, it was also their most risky option. The Gauss Cannons that their frames were equipped with required no small amount of power to actually fire them. That was an issue, because it meant that firing the Gauss Cannon could cause the booster frame to overheat.

On top of that, Jaune and his team were already pushing the booster frames to their limits. So overheating was a very real possibility and needless to say, but overheating was a bad thing. So bad in fact that in the best case scenario the frame would shut down, leaving the pilot to helplessly drift in the void. However, in the worst case scenario, the frame’s engines would suffer a catastrophic meltdown. If that happened, the pilot would then find themselves straddling a ticking time bomb with nowhere to go. Of course, neither of these two options seemed appealing to Jaune or his team. That was why they were hoping to avoid using the cannons all together. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like they were going to have a choice in the matter. At least if they wanted any chance of getting through this alive.

“It’s your call, Jaune.” Ren added.

Jaune nodded before addressing his team again. “Start charging the Gauss Cannons. When we get in range of that battleship, I want you guys to let loose everything you have left. We need to open up a hole so we can reach the flagship. If we can do that, the cannons will be more than enough to gain us entry.” He explained.

Then after waiting a moment to see if his teammates would issue any complaints, Jaune spoke again. “Oh, and before I forget, I want you guys to remember that Pyrrha is the one holding the package. That means she needs to reach the objective in one piece. That is our top priority, you got it!?” He said, causing Nora and Ren to quickly nod in agreement. Then he spun around on Pyrrha to direct an accusing finger at her. “And that goes double for you Pyrrha, I don’t want to see you doing anything stupid, you got me!” He commanded.

That statement caused Pyrrha to go rigid and if anyone could see her face they would know that she was bewildered. “I would never do-“ She began to argue, but was cut off by Jaune.

“Alright guys, this is our last push! Let’s make it count!” Jaune declared as he primed all of his weapons causing his allies to do the same. Then he glanced down at the small screen that displayed his weapon status, showing the Gauss Cannon was nearly charged up. If they could get past this battleship, their combined cannon shots could blast right through the side of that flagship. They could do this. “Okay, on my mark. Three… Two… One… Fire!


	15. One Last Push Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team JNPR has made it onto the absolution, but many enemies still stand in their way.

**Bridge of the Covenant Flagship Final Absolution**

From the very moment that Ziro’s fleet had arrived in this god forsaken solar system, nothing had quite been going according to plan. First there had been that mysterious flash of light that had nearly destroyed his whole fleet. Then in the confusion that followed, the demons that they had been chasing through slipspace for days now had managed to slip out of their grasp. If all that wasn’t bad enough, then they immediately found themselves being pushed back after the sudden appearance of a human fleet.

Now with how things stood, Ziro’s fleet in shambles and had nothing to show for it. He couldn’t allow things to end like this, he would be disgraced. However, his fleet was currently far too scattered to launch a proper counter offensive, and there wasn’t much that could be done about it.

With so many of Ziro’s crafts being reduced to scrap from the moment the battle had begun, his formation was now filled with large gaps. On top of that, the moral of his men wasn’t fairing much better. Many of them were young and have never witnessed the power of the gods in action, let alone had it used against them. That left them all shaken, but this battle wasn’t over yet. This changed nothing, if anything it only made this mission more important. And he knew that his men were strong and dedicated warriors, their faith may have just been tested, but he was confident that they would not falter in the face of the enemy. With that in mind, he did all he could to hold his fleet together.

“Shipmaster, Cruel Epiphany has sustained critical damage and is falling back!” One of Ziro’s communications officers announced.

“There is no room for retreat! Tell those cowards to stand fast and die with some honor!” Ziro barked.

“A-as you command, shipmaster!” The officer declared in a frightened tone.

With that sorted, Ziro sank back into his command chair with a sigh. He never liked playing the part of a tyrant, but some times it was necessary to keep your men in line. And with how poorly this battle was going, it was indeed one of those times. Though, he was managing somehow. Slowly but surely, he was reeling his fleet back into a proper formation.

Additionally, it would seem that a good number of Ziro’s smaller infantry ships had managed to slip past the enemy fleet and breach the atmosphere of the human planet atmosphere. Their mission was to locate and secure the source of that mysterious light. And last he had heard, they were closing in on it. “Is there any word from our ground forces yet?!”

“Yes shipmaster, we just received a report!” One of his officers replied.

“Then what are you waiting for, send it to my terminal!” Ziro commanded, causing the Unggoy to mouth a stuttering apology before quickly complying. Once Ziro had the report, he quickly skimmed through it. As he would expect, the light was the work of a holy relic, but the humans had built an entire city around it.

Ziro was unsure whether the city was meant to protect the holy artifact, or if they intended the relic to protect them. Regardless of the reason though, one thing was certain, and that was that accessing it from the ground was nearly impossible, and the sky above the city wasn’t really a better option. At least based on the images his scouts had managed to capture of the city before they were shot out of the sky. The city was heavily fortified, large walls comprised of an unknown alloy encircled the city, and large cannon like turrets were built across the city in key locations. On top of that, the skies were also filled with human vessels similar to the ones they were facing now.

The report wasn’t all bad news though. While Ziro’s scouts were tracking down the source of the light, they also came across several forerunner structures near the city. The structures seemed to be power stations of some kind and his scouts believed with how much energy they were generating that they had to be feeding into the holy relic. So if Ziro could capture those installations, he would have control over the relic’s power supply. At least then he could prevent it from being used against them again.

“Notify all ground forces to concentrate on capturing the power stations and holding there until further notice!” Ziro commanded.

“Yes, shipmaster, I will notify them at once!” One of Ziro’s officers replied.

“Shipmaster, the Eternal Zealot is requesting assistance on the right flank! They believe that they have encountered the enemy flagship!” Another officer announced.

“The enemy flagship you say? Hmm, put it on the screen.” Ziro commanded.

“Yes, shipmaster!” The officer replied before pressing a few buttons and causing the holographic display in front of Ziro to zoom in on a nearby area of space.

Sprawled out before Ziro was a large human vessel what he believed they referred to as a frigate. “Is that it?” He thought to himself as he examined it closely. The craft was certainly a fair bit larger and more ornate than the other vessels that were around it, but that didn’t necessarily mean that it was a command vessel. However, the give away was how the other vessels on its flanks were behaving. They were forming a defensive formation around a clearly more formidable ship, which meant it had some greater importance then just its firepower.

Ziro’s pondering was cut short when his communications officer spoke again. “Shipmaster, the enemy fleet has ceased its advance!”

“Wait, what?” Ziro asked as he tore his eyes off the holoscreen and gazed down at his officer for confirmation. When his officer met his gaze and gave a nod, Ziro’s expression changed into something akin to bewilderment.

“We are getting the same reports across the board. All enemy ships have stopped their advance and are now holding their positions just outside of our bombardment range. Our shipmasters are awaiting your orders.” The officer clarified.

Ziro leaned back in his seat, taking a moment to consider what this action could mean. It could mean that they were more interested in protecting their world than finishing them off, though he greatly doubted that. Back during the Great War when a human world had been discovered, the humans would always attack them relentlessly. The humans usually did this in hopes that it would prevent them from sending word back to the rest of the Covenant armada. Of course, Ziro supposed that times had changed since then. The Covenant was now only a shadow of what it used to be since the Arbiter took control. So perhaps they just didn’t fear that they would return and that thought was quite irking to say the least.

To support the idea that they might not fear them, there was the fact that the demons had lead Ziro’s fleet straight to this location. If this was indeed an inhabited world, that would make it a most unusual action indeed. After all in his experience, the human’s would usually never jump directly to their home world, but rather jump to seemingly random outskirts of space in an attempt to throw them off their trail.

All of this was most curious, but Ziro had more important things to worry about right now. So he filed those thoughts away for later and directed his attention back to the holoscreen. It was still displaying the image of what was supposedly the enemy flagship. However, something seemed off about it now. The ships that had been acting as its guard were now fanning out while it moved forward on its own. “What are they doing? Do they think they can challenge us on their own?” He pondered.

“Shipmaster, that human ship is hailing us! They are trying to open up a line of communication! What do you want me to do?!” The communications officer inquired.

“Their trying to talk to us? Well that’s new.” Ziro mused, his interest peaked. “Patch them through.”

“Yes, shipmaster!” The officer replied before the holoscreen once again changed, this time displaying what appeared to be the interior of a human vessel. If Ziro were to wager a guess it would be the bridge, at least based on the layout and equipment he could see.

Ziro could now also see a group of three figures standing before him. They were all human and were all dressed in white ornate uniforms, not unlike the uniforms he had seen their high ranking officers wear in the past which made it oblivious who they were.

In the center of this group was a man of large stature, at least compared to the other humans. The man’s shoulders were broad, and his posture had a rigid posture. And the scowl that was contorting his features was unmistakable, which meant he wasn’t any happier than Ziro was about this mess. That was good at least.

Behind the man was a set of two smaller figures. One was a scrawny male human with a disheveled appearance and an unreadable expression. While the other appeared to be a young human female with unusually colored hair. Though the woman’s expression wasn’t as intense as the larger males it was clearly that of disgust.

Once Ziro and the human’s made eye contact, there was a short moment of silence before the largest human finally spoke. “Greetings, I am General James Ironwood. Am I speaking to the one in charge of this fleet?” The human inquired.

Ziro didn’t quite like the human’s tone, but figured he would play along for now, see where this goes. “I am Ziro ‘Modomai, Shipmaster of the Final Absolution and commander of this fleet. Now I have answered your question, answer mine. What do you want, human? Are you surrendering perhaps?”

“Surrender? No, what we want is for you to turn your fleet around and leave right now.” The General replied sternly. “We don’t know how you got here or what you are trying to accomplish, but I can tell you now that you’re wasting both of our time and our resources. And if you leave now, we can forget this ever happened.”

“Oh, is that right. Those are quite some big words for such a primitive creature like you.” Ziro growled causing the female human to intensify her scowl, but it was of no concern to Ziro. “If you think you can intimidate me, then you are as foolish as the rest of your kind.”

Though it was not visible to Ziro, the hands that the General had been holding behind his back tightened before he spoke again. “Shipmaster, with all due respect, I am merely trying to tell you that there has been some sort of misunderstanding here and that this fight is meaningless. This world before you is known as Remnant and it is an independent world. We have no interest in involving ourselves in your petty wars. So if you have any gripes with the Arbiter or the UNSC, it should be taken up with them and leave us out of it.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that? Why should I, when it was your demons that led us here?! How are you and your people any different from the other heretics who abuse the holy artifacts for your own gains!?” Ziro asked in an accusing tone, causing the General’s expression to falter for the briefest of moments, but it was enough. “I can see right through your lies, human! I know what it is you are trying to hide, and I swear on my honor that before this day is out it I will have it in my hands!” Ziro declared as he made a grasping gesture with his hand.

The General let out a deep sigh before responding. “So that’s your answer then?” Ziro leaned back and remained silent. It soon became clear that he wasn’t even going to dignify the question with a reply. The General shook his head in disappointment. “I see. Well, shipmaster, just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He spat before the feed cut out.

“Do they take me for a fool?” Ziro scoffed before rising from his seat to address the crew. “Send word to the fleet, we’re done playing defense! It is time to strike down these dogs!” He commanded.

Then once Ziro’s officers had begun to busy themselves with relaying his new orders, he was making to sit down, when one of them spoke up. “Shipmaster, we have detected a group of small unknown crafts approaching us at high speeds!”

“What, from what direction are they approaching!?” Ziro inquired.

“The right flank sir, they are approaching from the direction of the enemy flagship! We believe they may have been deployed from it, but we can’t be certain!” The officer replied.

“Put them on screen!” Ziro commanded, and a moment later the enemy flagship was back on the screen. However, Ziro could not see the crafts in question. “Where are they!? I don’t see anything!”

“My apologies shipmaster, they are very small! Allow me to enhance!” The officer declared before pressing a button and causing an area of the holoscreen to become highlighted before enlarging to about ten times its original size and taking up the whole screen.

Even though they still appeared as little more than small dots in the dark vacuum of space, Ziro certainly could make out four distinct dots heading towards them. Curious, Ziro enhanced the image again to get a better view, and his eyes narrowed in anger. “Demons!” He hissed before turning back to his crew to bark more orders. “Belay my last order and command all vessels to kill those monsters!”

//////////////////////////////////////////

**A Few Moments Later**

On the count of one, the chainguns revved up. On the count of two, mines and warheads were armed. On the count of three, gauss cannons began to release a static hiss. Then when the command to fire finally came, it was all unleashed upon the Covenant blockade.

The first wave of explosive projectiles decimated the Covenant’s front lines. After that, the second line of defenses didn’t fair much better as they soon found themselves disabled by a concentrated surge from JNPR’s EMP mines.

With the second line of seraph’s systems fried and unable to do much of anything other than growl at their burnt out controls, they were left ignored to drift in the void. Jaune and his team didn’t have the time nor the resources to bother finishing them off, so instead they focused on ripping into the third line with pinpoint bursts from their chainguns.

It was so far so good, but once Jaune and his team had punched through the third line of defense, they knew they would be faced with a bigger problem. They now confronted the last of the Covenant Battleships, and it was ready for them. A fact that it made clear when JNPR had to perform some quick maneuvering to avoid getting blasted apart by its plasma turrets the moment they were in range.

“Guys, I know this is going to sound crazy, but if we don’t want to die, we will need to get in closer! That will narrow the turret’s line of sight!” Jaune commanded before he increased his thruster speed and sped off towards the battleship.

“Copy that!” Jaune’s teammates declared as they followed his lead and fell into a tight formation directly above the battleship.

Then once the team had begun racing across the surface of the battleship, they noted with some amusement that they were so close that the heat coming off the frame’s thrusters was causing a ripple effect on the ship’s energy shields. It was an interesting effect, but it would do nothing to hinder the enemy, and this close proximity meant that they would need to be careful not to drop any lower. If they came in contact with those shields, it would kick them back and the frames would be ripped the pieces on the spot. That made this an incredibly dangerous maneuver to pull off. All it would take is one little slip up to ruin their day.

With those dangers in the forefront of their minds, the team remained laser focused on the task at hand as they weaved their frames back and forth through the web of plasma turrets that dotted the hull of the ship. They had to make sure they flew as close as possible to them to limit their sight lines and allow friendly fire to make their jobs slightly easier. However, they had to do so while avoiding bombardment from just about every direction, and without running the risk of slamming headlong into one of the turrets as they passed them.

Up to the point that the group reached the approximate halfway point of the battleship’s exterior, things had been going just about as well as one would’ve expected from such a suicidal strategy. Their frames were riddled with plasma burns and they were leaking all manner of fluids, their personal energy shields were constantly skirting on the edge of burning out, and their offensive options had significantly dwindled.

Of course the team did still have their magnetic acceleration cannons at their disposal, but they would only really be good for one shot and they needed to save that for the flagship. However, that left Ren and Nora who had both completely run out of ammunition in a bit of a bind. With no weapons powerful enough to fight back with, they were unable to do anything other than evade their pursuers, but even that was becoming increasingly difficult with the enemy closing in on practically every side.

“This isn’t looking good! We may need to consider an alternative approach!” Ren warned before he was forced to pull a hard right to avoid getting blasted by another turret volley.

“I don’t really think we have that option anymore.” Pyrrha declared in an apologetic tone right before she had to unload the last of her rounds into an enemy Seraph that had been attempting to flank them.

Though Pyrrha couldn’t hear the clicking of her chaingun to signify that it had run out of ammo, the sudden break in what had been a steady stream of dust rounds was signal enough. Luckily, the rounds she had already fired were just enough to punch through her target’s shields and cripple the craft. So she just watched as the damaged Seraph began to spin out of control before it slammed against the hull of the larger vessel below and detonated on impact.

Now left unarmed like her teammates and not wanting to share her last opponent’s fate, Pyrrha spoke again. “On second thought, maybe should reevaluate our options.”

Jaune couldn’t help but chuckle at that suggestion. “Well I’m always open to suggestions, but I think now may not be the best time for a change in strategy!”

“Well maybe we could ju-“ Pyrrha tried to say before a bright purple flash in the corner of her vision caught her eye and she heard the startled shriek of her teammate Ren over her headset.

The source of Ren’s dismay was that one of the many plasma turrets that they had been trying to evade had finally found its mark. As a result, the right wing of green clad scavenger’s booster frame had been shredded beyond repair. And with the loss of the wing, all sense of stability went with it, sending Ren spinning wildly off course.

Having watched most of this scene play out, Pyrrha now felt panic welling up inside of her. She quickly stumped that feeling down though and was about to maneuver out of position to give her friend some assistance, but Nora had beaten her to it.

“Ren hold on, I’m coming!” Nora screamed as she broke away from the formation and sped off towards her tumbling teammate.

While Ren was trying in vain to correct his course, another volley of plasma fire struck the back of his frame and destroyed a few of his rear thrusters. The good news was that the impact had slightly reset his momentum, and with his thrusters fried, he had lost a considerable amount of speed. The bad news was that he was still way off course, and with his thrusters he had no way to make the corrections necessary to get back on track.

Realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to pull out of this, Ren was about ready to resign himself. And that was when he felt something tugging on his arm with enough force to rip it out of its socket. Then that same something yanked him right off his frame and hoisted him up onto the back of another. Ren quickly scrambled to get a good hold on the second frame before glancing up to see his friend Nora at the helm.

“Are you alright?” Nora asked, concern evident in her voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Ren replied quickly before he took a glance back down to see his former ride bouncing off the hull of the battleship before it immediately slammed into the side of a plasma turret, detonating on impact. His breath caught a little before he added. “All thanks to you.”

Nora just laughed it off. “No need to thank me, silly! What’re friends for!?” She declared in her usual cheerful tone before her attention went back to the battle and she had to pull a hard left to avoid plasma fire, nearly causing Ren to lose his grip.

“Nora, could you give me a little warning next time!?” Ren complained.

“Sorry, Ren. Oh, and you may want to get a better grip They’re closing in on us!” Nora replied in an almost teasing tone. Then she let out a yelp when Ren did as instructed and popped right up into her one person seat directly behind her and firmly wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Like this?” Ren asked in a low voice.

“Y-yeah, just like that.” Nora stuttered.

“Hey, this is no time for foreplay you two!” Jaune shouted, earning him an instant denial from the two in question and a disappointed sigh from Pyrrha. “Whatever, just stay focused, we’re almost there!” He said as he directed their attention forward.

When Ren and Nora returned their attention to their goal, they found that they had finally cleared the battleship and now their objective was only moments away. However, their pursuers still hadn’t given up the chase, and if they didn’t do something soon, they might never make it to the flagship. With this in mind, Jaune spoke again. “Ren, we need to get a few of these bastards off our tails! Do you think you can cover us!?” He inquired.

Ren seemed like he was about to say something when Nora cut in. “Just how is he going to do that!? His weapons aren’t really designed to take out starfighters!”

“Don’t these things have built in rear turrets?” Jaune inquired.

“Oh, right. Nevermind.” Nora replied as she flipped the switch to deploy the turret and issued a silent apology to the designers of the Booster Frame.

When the back hatch of the frame kicked up and a mounted turret unfolded before Ren, he released his grip on his partner (Much to her disappointment) and sprang up to grab hold of the weapon. Without delay. he revved up the turret and took aim. Then a moment later, dust rounds were punching through the enemy’s shields.

Now with some of the heat off of them, Jaune took a moment to check on how much his cannon had charged. He was pleased to see that it was now fully charged and ready to roll, he just needed to get within range of their target which wouldn’t be long now. Another quick check showed that they would be in range in just ten more seconds. “Guy’s get ready, this is it!” He declared.

On his commanded, Pyrrha and Nora flipped a switch on their control panel to release the safety on their cannons and then rested their fingers over the triggers. “Ready!” They both declared.

Jaune nodded as he did the same, then he checked again and countered down in his head. When the time was right, he gave the command. “Fire!”

The three all fired their magnetic acceleration cannons at once, each letting loose a bright flash of light as a set of three solid masses were launched at hypersonic speeds. Each punched right through every craft unlucky enough to be between them and the flagship before slamming into the side of the craft with the force of a bomb. A shockwave rippled through the shields of the craft before they seemed to pop like a balloon and disappear entirely. The projectiles just kept on going though, leaving one large hole in the side of the ship that was just big enough for team JNPR to squeeze their small crafts right through.

Jaune watched with no small amount of glee as the new gaping hole in the side of the flagship experienced sudden explosive decompression. The result of said decompression being countless unprepared Covenant soldiers and crewmembers being sucked out into the void, doomed to either suffocate or starve with little to no hope of rescue.

For a moment Jaune wondered if it was wrong to be enjoying this so much, but he quickly dismissed those thoughts. After all, if this really was wrong, he didn’t really care to be right. Besides, he had more important matters to worry about now.

For starters he needed to focus on getting his frame through the narrow gap without crashing into the side. However, when Jaune actually tried to do so he realized his controls weren’t responding properly and all the joy he had been feeling turned to dread. “Oh, that can’t be good.” He muttered uncertainly before he quickly looked his frame up and down to see what the problem is.

After finishing his checks, it turned out to be just as Jaune had feared. He had been pushing the frame too hard and when he fired the Gauss Cannon, it had caused the frame to overheat. As a result, the Nuclear Fusion was currently experiencing a complete and soon to be catastrophic meltdown and that meant two things. One, the frame was no longer working, and two, it was likely about to explode.

“Oh my god, hold on Jaune!” Jaune heard Pyrrha call out to him. She must have noticed the sparks flying from his frame.

“No Pyrrha, there is not enough time!” Jaune called back. His teammates were currently ahead of him, but he couldn’t let them slow down to help him, not when the flagship’s energy shield would soon close back up and deny them access.

“Are you sure?” Ren asked.

“Yes, I can still make this, so just keep going! Jaune shouted back as he quickly hopped out of his seat and clambered up onto the front of his frame. His thrusters may have quit on him, but he still had more than enough momentum to clear the distance before the shield closed in. However, it looked like he was drifting slightly off course which meant this landing wasn’t going to be a smooth one, so he added. “Oh and you better step on it because it looks like I’m coming in hot!”

Hearing all of this caused Pyrrha to hesitate for a moment, but she ultimately decided to trust in their leader’s judgment and all she said was, “Alright,” before she focused her attention back on the task at hand and aimed her frame towards the hole. Then as instructed, she punched her throttle as hard as she could.

Nora with Ren still in toe followed soon after Pyrrha and the three quickly slipped right through the narrow entrance of the flagship and found themselves in an even narrower passageway. It was clear right away that this passageway had not been designed for vehicle traffic of any sort, but that mattered little to them. They just kept going, and as they zoomed through the corridor at breakneck pace, they plowed through several shell-shocked Grunts and Elites who had managed to survive by clinging onto the walls of the corridor during its decompression.

Meanwhile, Jaune was not far behind and was in the middle of getting himself pumpped up for what was sure to be either one of the most amazing or dumbest things he’s ever done. He was holding out hope that it would be the former rather than the ladder, but given his luck lately it wasn’t likely. “Alright, Jaune you got this. All you got to do is outrun an explosion, how hard could it be?” His tone didn’t even sound convincing to him, so things weren’t looking good, but he had to try. So with that in mind he calmed himself and focused. He waited till the last possible moment to make sure he could make it and when the time came, he fired his suit’s built in thrusters and leapt from his craft towards the flagship’s opening.

Just as planned, Jaune had managed to clear the gap without much difficulty. However, just as he had though, his frame was off center causing it to slam right into the side of the flagship and detonate impact. Usually an explosion in space wasn’t such a big deal. After all, there wasn’t much in a vacuum environment for fire to feed off of. That meant that most fires would die out the moment they begin and as long as you were outside the immediate area you would be fine. However, this situation was a bit different.

The difference in this situation was that there was still oxygen lingering in the passageway and just because there was a hole in the ship didn’t mean that the life support system would suddenly stop circulating more. And that was a problem, since it gave something for the flames to latch onto and thus the explosion was magnified significantly and Jaune was forced to flee from the ensuing firestorm. His suit began to glow a bright yellow hue as he fired his thrusters at full blast and kicked his legs with everything he had, but despite his efforts, he was only barely keeping ahead of the wave of fire.

Up ahead of Jaune, Pyrrha and Nora were nearing the end of the passageway and could see that it was being blocked by a set of large heavy duty blast doors. That was a problem since they had no heavy artillery left that would be powerful enough to get them through those doors, and there was not nearly enough room to turn their booster frames. So instead, they decided that the frames had outlived their usefulness and as they passed a fork in the passageway, they abandoned ship.

With their pilots gone, the last two booster frames mindlessly continued on their path until they slammed into the blast doors and went up in twin balls of fire. While this act may have allowed the NPR of team JNPR to avoid a fiery demise, it left Jaune in a bit of a pickle. This was because Jaune now found himself running away from one wall of flame towards another wall of certain fiery death. Since going forward and staying where he was was no longer an option, he did the only logical thing he could think of and dunked into the first turn of he came to. Luckily for him, that turn off just so happened to be the same one that his teammates had used only a moment ago.

“Jaune, you’re all right!” Pyrrha called out to Jaune as he rounded the corner and dove in front of her.

Without delay, Jaune sprang back up to address his comrades. “Not quite yet! Pyrrha, I need the Arkos formation right now!” He commanded.

Pyrrha needed no further instruction as she quickly sprang into action. Her armor began to glow a bright red as dust was channeled through it and into a small circler device on her wrist. When the dust reached the device, it instantly unfolded and stretched out to create a large red hard light energy shield.

Then Jaune activated a similar device on his wrist to create a larger yellow shield before him and Pyrrha both took up a defensive position with their shields between them and the approaching flames. While at the same time, their other teammates took up crouching positions close behind them and their shields. It wasn’t a minute too soon either, since a few seconds later and the flames from both explosions merged together into one massive blaze before it all poured into their narrow corridor like a tidal wave.

“Everyone hold on!” Pyrrha declared as she braced herself and the flames lapped at her shield.

Pyrrha couldn’t help but take note of the unnatural intensity of the flames. The flames were growing so hot in fact that they were beginning to take on a bluish tint. She thought it was strange at first, but then she remembered that she wasn’t on a human vessel right now. The percentage of oxygen that was normally used in the Covenant’s life support systems was slightly different from that of human vessels, which made sense given the different environments of their home worlds. On top of that, a few of the lesser beings in their ranks, such as the Grunts required methane in order to breathe. If they added high amounts of methane to the mix, there was no doubt that the interior would become like a match box.

The flames continued to rage for nearly a full five seconds before they finally subsided, leaving Jaune and Pyrrha’s hard light shields flickering, their suit’s shielding depleted, and their armor plating hot to the touch. However, they were all still alive, but just to be sure, Jaune called out to his teammates. “Is everyone still alive?”

“I’m a little sweatier than I would normally like to be, but yeah, other than that fine.” Pyrrha replied.

“I’m green.” Ren replied causing Nora to giggle. “What?” He asked the pink clad girl in question.

“They know you’re green, silly. They wanted to know if you’re alright.” Nora joked, causing Ren to just shake his head. Then Nora turned to address her leader to add. “I’m good to go by the way.”

Jaune shared a short laugh with his team before he spoke. “Weapons check.” He declared and then he reached over his shoulder to draw his DMR Rifle from his back and proceeded to check it for any damage it might have taken in the chaos. Seeing what their leader was doing, the rest of the team did the same.

Jaune didn’t really have much to check himself. Aside from his combat knives, he was only armed with a standard issue DMR Rifle and Magnum, all of which seemed to be in working order. As for Pyrrha’s equipment package, it was rather similar with the only exceptions being that the knives were switched out for small golden dagger that was strapped to her waist and an ARC-920 that was strapped to her backside. ARC-920 is short for Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920, which was basically just a handheld version of a Railgun. So most just called it a Railgun, for the sake of simplify.

However, Ren and Nora’s equipment was a bit more unique. Ren’s only visible weapons were a set of SMGs, but they were far from standard issue. They were heavily modified to the point where they barely even resembled their stock counterparts. The modifications were quite varied as well. They were equipped with silencers, a laser sight, and bladed edges had been attached to front grips on both of them.

As for Nora, she was different for another reason. Rather than standard issue or custom equipment, she had forgone human tech altogether and was currently sporting a type-25 Grenade Launcher, also known as the Covenant Brute Shot, and that wasn’t the only Brute weapon in her arsenal. She was also lugging around their signature melee weapon, gravitational war hammer known simply as the Gravity Hammer.

“Alright, is everyone set?” Jaune inquired.

“Locked and loaded.” Pyrrha replied once she was satisfied that her weapons safety had been disengaged and the magazine was firmly locked in place. Then Ren and Nora each gave a quick nod of agreement as they hoisted their weapons up to show as much.

“That’s good.” Jaune said. He figured it was a good time to call attention to the sounds of frantic footfalls and angry grumblings echoing through the corridor. “After all, it sounds like we will be entertaining company soon.”

“Then perhaps we should get moving.” Ren purposed.

“Yeah, but which way should we go?” Nora inquired as she quickly glanced back and forth through the passageway.

Jaune hummed in thought before replying. “We’re heading for the ship’s core, and as the name suggests it should be located towards the center of this ship. We entered from the side near the front of the ship, so we will have a bit of a trek ahead of us.”

“I think we should cut through the hangar bay, it should give us a straight shot to the core.” Pyrrha suggested.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.” Jaune replied before he turned back towards the torched passageway they had entered from. “The hanger bay should be right up ahead, let’s move team!” He called back right before breaking into a sprint.

Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren just shrugged, not really needing any convincing before they quickly followed after their leader with their weapons at the ready. It was a good thing they did too, since the moment they turned the corner that lead to the hanger, they came face to face with two squads of nearly six Grunts each and both squads were lead by their own Elite.

When the two groups spotted one another, it caused them to completely grind to a halt and stare uncertainly for a brief moment before one of the Elite’s finally broke the standoff by pointing one its long figures in JNPR’s general direction and shouting. “It’s the demons, kill them!” Then with that command issued, the Grunts quickly opened fire.

With the passageway now becoming a deadly light show, Pyrrha and Jaune once again deployed their hard light shields in order to give the group enough time to find cover amongst the burnt out wreckage that was currently littering the corridor.

Pyrrha and Ren ducked behind a piece of thick metal plating that had been blown off the wall during the explosion. Meanwhile Jaune and Nora found refuge behind a twisted hunk of smoldering metal that they think might have been one of their booster frames at some point and they got low.

As plasma began splashing against the metal wreckage, Jaune felt safe enough behind his cover to turn towards Nora to ask her a question. “Hey Nora, isn’t it about time for you to get into character?”

After hearing her leaders question, Nora tilted her head to the side and stared back a Jaune. It was almost as if she was trying to figure something out. However, the staring didn’t last long as a moment later she was laughing like he had just told the greatest joke ever and moving a hand up to grip the side of her helmet. “Your right, I can’t believe that I had almost forgotten!” She declared before she flipped a switch on her helmet and caused her visor to light up.

The lights built into parts of Nora’s visor lit up in bright neon pink and when they did, they create an effect akin to that of a jack-o-lantern with a set of menacing eyes and a twisted inhuman grin sprawled across the surface of her visor. Then the girl immediately began to cackle manically before she hoisted her Brute Shot and vaulted over their cover to charge at the enemy.

When Nora came into view the bright pink light of her helmet popped against the dark burned out corridor and the Covenant quickly took notice. And when she was sure she had their attention, she made sure that her helmet’s loud speakers were on before she addressed them. “Prepare yourselves, for I shall grind your bones into dust!” She roared, but the words were not spoken in human tongue. Rather she was speaking in Sangheili, the Elites native language and the one most common amongst the Covenant.

The Grunts seemed to be completely caught off guard by Nora’s ghastly appearance and though they were use to human’s threatening them, it was rare for one to do so in their native tongue. This caused them to hesitate for a moment, but the Elite’s quickly snapped them out of it by issuing another command to fire. However, by the time that the Grunt’s had begun firing once again, Nora had also gone on the offensive, launching grenades into the heart of their formation.

Many of the Grunts were struck directly and with no energy shielding to protect them, they were quickly transformed into bloody purple stains on the floor, ceiling, and their friends. When Nora opened fire, the other members of team JNPR took it as their chance to lay down cover fire. Pyrrha and Jaune each singled out one of the Elites and unloaded rifle rounds into their heads until their shields fizzled out and they dropped to the ground.

Meanwhile with the limited range of Ren’s SMG’s, he focused on taking out the Grunt’s nearest to them, or at least the ones that were left. Nora wasn’t leaving much in the way of stragglers. She had turned over half of the Grunts that they had encountered into paste already and she was showing no signs of slowing down. Also with the Elites dead and the Grunts left without leadership in the face of what could only be described as a rampaging beast, their formation had fallen apart and many were now making a run for it.

Some people may not have cared about a single Grunt getting away, especially when they took into account the fact that basically the whole fleet already knew where to find them, but Nora did and she had no interest in letting her prey get away so easily. “The Great Journey does not await cowards! This calls for divine retribution!” She roared in Sangheili before she left off a few more grenade shots at the retreating Grunts and adding a few more to her kill count for her troubles.

Then when Nora had honed in on the last surviving Grunt and she pulled the trigger, she let out an annoyed grunt when she heard a hollow click and no explosion followed. She needed to reload, but she didn’t have the time for that. The Grunt had a fairly large lead on her and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to reload or catch up to it before it made it into the hangar bay ahead of them.

If the Grunt made it to the hangar bay where there was sure to be a lot more Covenant warriors to back it up, it could cause a bit of an issue. So she couldn’t allow that, at least not quite yet. With that in mind, she cocked her Brute Shot back and held it like one would a javelin before she promptly flung the bladed grenade launcher in the Grunt’s direction.

Despite the Brute Shot’s less than arrow dynamic design, it glided rather gracefully through the air, spinning end over end like a throwing axe before it struck the Grunt directly in its backside. The Grunt hollowed in agony as the bladed edge of the Brute Shot buried itself in his spine. While the Grunt had survived the blow, it suddenly felt weak in the knees and collapsed face first onto the floor.

With her prey now immobilized and the distance between them closing quickly, Nora slowed her stride to a far more leisurely pace to allow her teammates time to catch up to her. Then once she was only a few steps away from the Grunt, it struggled to turn its neck enough to see her and when it caught sight of her, it came to regret it. Nora’s baneful neon eyes had filled its mind with dread and it started to squirm and scream in desperation.

“Mercy, mercy!” The Grunt pleaded.

“Mercy? Does the Covenant show mercy?!” Nora asked as she placed a foot on the Grunt’s back and reached over to grasp her weapon, enlisting another panicked squeal from the prone Grunt. “Are you really that afraid?” She asked with a cynical edge.

“Mercy, mercy, mercy!” The Grunt cried out again.

Nora just scoffed. “Very well, I shall grant you mercy. I shall put an end to your suffering!” She roared before she yanked the weapon free from the Grunt’s back, causing screams of agony to intensify, but then they were promptly silenced when Nora drove the weapon back into the Grunt’s backside. Then she pulled it free and did it again, and again, and again, until her weapon, her armor, and the floor were all stained in blood and the Grunt became very still.

“Nora, that’s enough!” Pyrrha shouted as she rushed over to pull her comrade of the bloody mess that used to be one of their enemies.

The moment Pyrrha got a hold on Nora, the pink clad girl seemed to relax and when she spoke, her normal warm and bubbly tone had returned. “Oh sorry Pyrrha, I guess I got a little bit too into it there.” She said with a laugh.

“Ah, don’t sweat it, Nora. Personally, I think you did a great job.” Jaune said as he placed a reassuring hand on his teammate’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Jaune!” Nora cheered before she noticed that Ren was now scouting ahead. “Oh, wait up Ren I will help!” She called out to her friend before she rushed over to join him.

Now left alone, Pyrrha direct her gaze at their leader and her voice took on an annoyed tone when she addressed him. “I can’t believe you sometimes!”

“What did I do?” Jaune asked in a tone that suggested he had no idea what Pyrrha was talking about, which only served to make her more irritated.

“We talked about this, Jaune! I don’t think you should be encouraging this type of behavior!” Pyrrha hissed.

“Gees, you sound like her mother.” Jaune retorted and Pyrrha looked like she was about to snap at him when he spoke again in a more serious tone. “This is war Pyrrha, that’s what it looks like and we have to use every tool at our disposal to win. It may not be pretty, but you saw how effective Nora’s tactics were, right? That girl is able to wield fear just like any other weapon and we would be foolish not to make use of it.” He reasoned.

Pyrrha shook her head. “But that isn’t right.” She stated sadly.

Jaune shrugged before replying. “No, it isn’t, but the enemy doesn’t care about what we think is right or wrong. They just want us dead, and if we don’t want that to happen, we have to kill them first. Which reminds me, we have a bomb to plant, so could we talk about this later?”

Pyrrha sighed before deciding she wasn’t going to get anywhere. “Fine, let’s just get this over with.”

“Good.” Jaune replied as he loaded a fresh magazine into his DMR and went to follow Ren and Nora’s lead.

**To Be Continued... Next Time Season Final Chapter An Old Friend.**


	16. An Old Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The epic conclusion of the first season of Planet Remnant!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow has this been a long time coming I tell you lol. First of all, I would like to thank each and everyone of loyal readers. You guys make this all worth while, your feedback is what helps me push through. This has been one of the most fun and at the same time most sadistic works I have taken on so far. This is no joke, the longest chapter out of every work I have done and I am quite proud with how it turned out and hope you all feel the same.
> 
> Since this is the Season Final this work will be taking a bit of a break. Not sure how long of a break we will be taking, but at least until I can get caught up on some of my other works. So if you have anything you want to suggest or just ask about, now would be the time. I always love to hear from you.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.

**Bridge of Covenant Flagship Final Absolution**

“Shipmaster, the demons have been spotted in the hangar! They are pushing back our forces, sir!” One of Ziro’s communications officers announced.

“I am aware, just deploy reinforcements and send a feed to my terminal!” Ziro barked.

“Y-yes, shipmaster!” The officer quickly replied before it connected Ziro’s monitor to the hanger’s camera feed.

When the holoscreen came to life in front of Ziro, his eyes were greeted by the horrific sight of one of the female demons pinning one of his Sangheili warriors to the floor. The female had one of her knees pressed against the Sangheili’s back and her hands were busy wrenching the mandibles of the warrior’s jaw backward at an unnatural angle. Ziro had to stifle a wince when he saw the mandibles finally gave under the strain and becoming limp as they were popped free from their sockets. Then the female promptly adjusted her grip and in one quick motion, she snapped the warrior’s neck.

“Such senseless brutality, these primitive creatures never cease to disappoint me.” Ziro scuffed. Ziro didn’t miss the fact that the girl could have easily cracked his brother’s neck from the start, but instead she chose to start with his jaw. And while a broken jaw would no doubt be painful, it would have done little to hinder his warriors in combat. So that meant one of two things, either the girl was incredibly foolish, or incredibly cruel. From what Ziro knew of human females, he suspected the latter. With that said, there was something about the girl that stood out to Ziro. That was the fact that she was armed with the weapons of a Jiralhanae (Brute).

One thing Ziro knew about Humans was their obsession with their primitive projectile weaponry. Despite their plasma weapons clear superiority, humans, regardless if they were a demon or not, didn’t usually carry their Covenant weapons around with them. And even in the rare cases when they did, it was usually because their own weapons had been lost and they had to take the weapons from their fallen enemies. However, that couldn’t have been the case here.

Ziro didn’t have any Jiralhanae currently serving on his ship and their weaponry wasn’t in high demand amongst the ranks. The same was true for most of the fleet. There were few shipmasters that were still willing to trust their kind and it was with good reason. After all, it was their betrayal towards the end of the Great War that had stripped them and their fellow Sangheili brothers of their rightful place at the side of the prophets.

However, none of that was important right now. What was important was figuring out what the human’s plans were and how to best counter them, and Ziro had a hunch. “How close are those reinforcements we dispatched?” He inquired.

“Squads three, four, and seven should be engaging the enemy soon. Squads two, five, and six are still in rout and assuming the demons don’t go far, they should catch up to them in five minutes.” Ziro’s officer replied.

“If memory serves, squad two should be under the command of Thasa 'Kusov. Is that correct?” Ziro inquired, causing his officer to give him an instant affirmative. Thasa was one of his most trusted men, his warriors were quite skilled combatants. They would be better used elsewhere. “I want you to belay squad two’s orders! I want you to reroute them to the core!” Ziro commanded.

“Yes, shipmaster!” The officer quickly replied.

“Good,” Ziro said as he turned in his seat to address another officer. “I want our slipspace drive primed and ready for a jump as soon as possible! I will send you the coordinates momentarily.” He ordered.

The officer receiving the order paused for a moment in uncertainty. “You want to jump? Are we retreating shipmaster?” He asked timidly.

The officer knew he choose his words incorrectly when the tone of Ziro’s voice went from stern to acidic and Ziro’s eyes narrowed on him. “Listen well you little whelp! There are two things that I will not tolerate here on my bridge. First is questioning my orders and second is questioning my honor and you’ve just done both! So if you don’t want me to throw you out the nearest airlock, I suggest you do as instructed and watch your tongue!” He roared.

“Y-yes sh-shipmaster.” The officer stammered.

It was clear that the officer wasn’t use to seeing his normally calm and collected commander so aggravated, and when he stole a quick glance around the bridge he could easily see that he wasn’t the only one. Though, he supposed it just meant his shipmaster was just taking the demon threat that seriously, and that thought at least gave him some comfort. However, that comfort turned to confusion when the slipspace jump coordinates appeared on his monitor. They weren’t jumping to safety. No, they were actually going to perform a short ranged jump down to the surface of the human planet.

For a moment the officer considered asking his shipmaster if the coordinates could be incorrect, but decided it wasn’t in his best interests to question him again. He just couldn’t figure out what the shipmaster could be thinking. Sure it would bypass the enemy fleet and allow them to attack the planet directly, but then what would they do? The slipspace drive would need time to recharge after the jump and they would be surrounded on all sides by the enemy. Perhaps he was planning some sort of flanking maneuver? Though, if that were the case, surely the rest of the fleet would be told about it.

In the end the officer couldn’t figure out what his shipmaster had planned and lacked the bravery to ask. So he just did as he was told and punched in the coordinates and hoped for the best.

Then not a moment later the officer heard a commotion coming from the other side of the bridge. When he spun to see what was happening, his shipmaster was once again standing from his seat and looking at his holoscreen intently. When he spoke the word held more malice than he thought him ever capable. “Where did the demons go?!”

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

**Midship of the Covenant Flagship Final Absolution**

For the last several minutes, the halls of the Absolution had been alive with the sounds of screams, gunfire, and explosions, and at the center of it all had been team JNPR. With the hangar bay as their stage, they had to fight their way through endless ranks of Covenant just to survive. When they realized the enemy wasn’t going to stop swarming them, they had to escape into the ventilation system.

Once inside the ventilation system, they had managed to cover a large portion of the ship undetected, but unfortunately they learned from a few passing conversations of the Covenant soldiers in the halls that they were onto them and were musing the idea of pumping methane into the vents and lighting a match. So they had all agreed that they would need to surface soon.

The vents were too small for the members of team JNPR to walk side by side, so they formed a single file line with Jaune at the front, Pyrrha at the rear and Ren and Nora in the center. When Jaune came across a vent cover large enough for them to fit through he paused to look through the slits for signs of a threat.

When Jaune saw that the coast was clear, he turned back to his team and spoke in a hushed tone. “This should be as good a place as any.” Then he gave the vent cover an experimental push, but when it held firm he grumbled and turned back again. “It’s on there good, so it looks like I will need to kick this thing out. The coast looks clear, but there might be some around the corner and this is going to make some noise. So once I do this I want you guys to be ready.”

“Roger.” The NPR of the team replied.

Jaune gave his team a nod before got on his back and cocked both his feet back as far as he could in the cramped space before he slammed into the vent cover with all his strength. As one would expect something to behave after getting hit with nearly two tons of force, the vent cover warped until it broke free from the wall and was sent flying into the opposing wall with a loud thud before it clattered onto the floor below.

Then not a moment later Jaune rolled to the side to allow his team to rush past him and into the open passage with their weapons at the ready. The passageway they had broken into was one long corridor with no forking paths in either direction, so that allowed Pyrrha to cover one direction while Ren and Nora covered the opposite. As Jaune had told them, the coast was clear, but they needed to be certain so they waited and listened. Then after about five seconds of complete silence and no signs of movement, they finally allowed themselves to relax.

“Boy is it quite. Hey, do you think they forgot about us?” Nora inquired jokingly.

“I doubt it.” Ren deadpanned.

By this time Jaune had also crawled his way out of the ventilation system and was in the middle of checking how many rounds were left in his Magnum. His DMR Rifle was now noticeably missing from his back. Finally having a moment of peace, Pyrrha decided that was a matter that needed discussing. “By the way, you care to explain to me why you only took one extra clip for your Rifle?”

Jaune shrugged his shoulders before replying in a less than apologetic tone. “Sorry, I kind of got rushed out of my apartment this morning, so I didn’t really have much time to stock up.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? You could’ve just got extra clips when we were on the Paladin!” Pyrrha hissed, trying desperately to keep her voice down.

“Hmm, I guess your right. Just didn’t think about it at the time.” Jaune said dismissively. “Besides, it’s all worked out so far.”

“Only because I shared my clips with you back in the hangar! If I hadn’t then we would have been over run and now I’m down to my last one as well!” Pyrrha complained.

“Firstly, keep your voice down. We’re not in space anymore and that means sound travels.” Jaune warned. “Secondly, why don’t you just tell me what this is all really about?”

“I just told you what this is about. I’m sick of you not taking these things seriously.” Pyrrha responded in a more hushed tone.

“You really think I’m not taking this seriously? Please Pyrrha, you know I’m not that stupid and I know you’re not either so how about we cut the crap, huh?” Jaune suggested.

“What do you mean?” Pyrrha asked uncertainly.

Jaune scoffed. “What, you think I wouldn’t notice the fact that you’ve been riding me a lot harder than usual lately?” Jaune asked and when Pyrrha looked like she was about to retort he quickly added. “And not in a fun way either.”

That unnecessary remark caused Pyrrha to sputter for a moment, but she was getting use to his jabs and managed to recover fairly quickly. “Jaune, I know you’ve been having private meetings with that councilor”

This question finally seemed to catch Jaune off guard since he paused for a moment before he spoke. “What, you mean Cinder? What does she have to do with any of this? Don’t tell me your jealous or something?”

Pyrrha decided to ignore that last jab, seeing it for the distraction it was. “Yes, Cinder, and she has everything to do with this. You know we aren’t allowed to share our information with members of the Council or military without approval, right? Goodwitch was very clear about protocol. We’re to avoid contact with them whenever possible and under no circumstance are we to share out our technology.”

Though it wasn’t visible through his helmet, Jaune’s face scrunched up into a scowl. “Ozpin and his protocols can kiss my ass. If we’re really all on the same side like he claims then we should be working together, not drawing lines in the sand.”

“Jaune, you know it’s more complicated than that. Ozpin is our hero. I know he’s just trying to keep everyone safe.” Pyrrha tried to reason.

“Oh, I’m sure he is. He’s keeping us real safe from his ivory tower located right next to his superweapon.” He declared with no small amount of sarcasm. “To be honest, I don’t know why you trust that man so much, he’s only been here what, three years? And he just so happened to show up out of blue one day just in time to save the world. Doesn’t that sound just a little bit too romantic to you?”

“I…I umm.” Pyrrha tried to speak, but she couldn’t find the words.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Jaune stated before he made to turn around and noticed something was missing. “Umm, wait a minute, where the heck are Ren and Nora?!” He asked as he mentally kicked himself for not noticing their absence sooner. He should have realized that Nora was being far too quiet, Ren on the other hand was about the same.

“Relax Jaune, they’re still on the radar.” Pyrrha pointed out before she did so physically. There were two blips just down towards the end of the corridor and following them showed that their teammates had just gone ahead of them.

“Hey guys, why did you run off like that?” Jaune asked when Pyrrha and him had caught up to their teammates. They found they were stopped in front of a large blast door that likely led to their objective and Nora was busying herself by fiddling with the control panel beside it.

“Your little spats always take forever, seriously when are you going to kiss and make up?” Nora asked, causing Pyrrha to sputter slightly. Ignoring this, Nora went on. “Also I figured it would be a good chance for me to test my elite hacking skills by getting us through this door.”

“Reading the screen and hitting in whatever keys seem right doesn’t count as hacking, Nora.” Ren chimed in, causing the girl to stick her tongue out at him and accidentally licking the inside of her helmet.

“I still can’t believe you know how to read that stuff, do you really think you can get it open?” Jaune inquired.

“Hold on a minute and… I… will… show… you… right… now!” Nora said as she carefully punched in a few more keys on the panel and with the last one pressed, the sound of the locking mechanisms releasing filled the room before the large blast doors slid away, tucking themselves into the walls and floor.

Beyond the door team JNPR found a large circular room that was divided into an upper and lower area. The lower area had ramps and gravity lifts that led to the upper floor and the expanse of the upper floor was crossed by a light bridge. Above that was a domed transparent ceiling that gave them a view of the stars and Planet Remnants shattered moon. To some it wasn’t important, but to them it meant that they were currently on the uppermost level of the vessel.

Without delay, the team quickly moved into the room and began sweeping it for any possible threats. When none appeared and their radars told a similar story, Jaune figured it was safe to speak again. “Still nothing, huh? Surprising given how close we are to the core, even more so when we take into account how noisy that bloody door was. Maybe they should oil that thing.”

“Well nothing we could do about it. We have to proceed, and I’m sure it was a lot quieter than opening the alternative way.” Pyrrha reasoned.

“You mean blowing it open like we did the hanger?” Nora asked with a giggle. “That would have been fun too. We should try that with the next one.”

Jaune just shook his head and laughed along before glancing up at the transparent ceiling. “Look at that view.” He chimed in. “I think I saw this section from the outside of the ship. If it is indeed the same one, then we should nearly be at the Core, but we will need to find a way down to the lower levels.”

“Yeah, I think if we take one of the-“ Ren started to speak but cut himself off when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he quickly began scanning the room once again.

“What’s wrong, Ren?” Nora inquired as she readied herself for a possible battle. She hadn’t noticed anything amiss, but Ren has always had a sense for danger so she trusted his judgments.

“I thought I saw something.” He replied as he leveled his SMG’s in the direction of the disturbance and watched his radar carefully for movement. “We may not be as alone as we thought we were.”

Realizing that their cover had been blown, at least two dozen cloaked figures burst from cover, their cloaking devices causing the space around them to blur and shimmer as they moved about. Some took up shooting positions on the higher floors while a few others came at team JNPR directly with energy swords in hand.

“Tricky split jaws set up an ambush!” Jaune declared before he was forced to dodge away from the incoming plasma fire. After he scrambled behind some nearby cover, he glanced over to where his teammates had been. He found that they had ran off in opposite directions, placing them some distance away with good cover between them.

Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to reach his team easily from his position caused Jaune to curse under his breath before he began to properly evaluate the situation in his head. He could stay where he is and offer cover fire for his teammates, but with his rifle empty he didn’t have a proper ranged weapon to do so. That meant he would need to find a way to close the distance between him and the enemy without drawing too much attention to himself. That was when he stole another glance at the room and noticed that most of the enemies were gathering on the upper level. That made sense given the better sightlines and better cover options, but there was one weakness that stood out to him and it caused him to grin.

“They seem to be gathering on that light bridge!” Jaune declared as he directed his team’s attention to the bridge that hovered over the center of the room. “You guys go around and I will meet you on the upper level! Try to keep them distracted for me, I got a plan!” He told them before he prepped his Magnum and drew a knife from his side and waited.

Pyrrha just gave her leader a quick nod before she broke from her own cover and led the charge with Nora and Ren close behind her. When the Covenant forces zeroed in on them, Pyrrha quickly engaged her hard light shield and the three teammates used it as a source of mobile cover, they knew it wouldn’t last long under such heavy fire but at the pace they were moving, it wouldn’t need to.

As Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren made their way across the room towards one of the ramps that lead to the upper levels, Nora fired off explosive rounds at just about everything that moved, and even a few things that didn’t move just for good measure. While at the same time Ren kept watch on their rear, with so many enemies still cloaked and moving about in the shadows he had to focus in order to track them and prevent a flanking maneuver.

Watching his team go and the enemies gaze following them, Jaune took it as his chance to slip out of cover and make a break for a gravity lift on the other side of the room.

At the same time Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren had just reached the base of the ramp and Pyrrha spotted two more sets of shimmers before she heard the familiar hiss of plasma swords being activated. Then from within the blurry shimmers, two sets of energy blades emerged from the before the blurs rushed forward to meet NPR head on.

Acting quickly, Pyrrha deflected the first sword thrust with her shield before she delivered a hard kick into the blur’s chest and sending it reeling backward and directly onto his companion’s blade. Upon being impaled with the energy sword, the blur’s energy shields flared up violently before bursting and its cloaking device failed revealing an Elite warrior in the signature red armor of an Elite Zealot. Realizing what had happened to him, the Elite let out a roar of agony before it choked on the blood pooling in its mouth and became limp.

“Oh, look what’ve gone and done. Your gods aren’t going to be very happy about that one are they?” Nora mused.

The second blur didn’t seem the least bit amused by the situation and quickly ripped its blade free from his former comrade before unceremoniously tossing the body aside and rushing forward once again. However, before it could close the gap between them Ren leveled his SMGs on the blur and opened fire.

Ren’s weapons were eerily quiet, the dulled thumps of the silenced weapons were somehow overshadowed by the sound of the spent casings it discharged hitting the smooth metal floor at his feet. Though, the low caliber rounds of his SMGs weren’t strong enough to pierce the Elite’s shields out right, they were more than enough to dispel its cloak and drive it back a few feet and hold it at bay long enough for Pyrrha to draw her DMR and pop off a few round into its head to finish it off.

Now with their first obstacle out of the way, NPR continued on their course to the second level by scaling the ramp only for them to be brought to a halt once again when a lone hunter came into view. The Hunter was stationed at the top the ramp and was leveling its plasma cannon on their position.

Though the appearance of the Hunter was certainly a troubling development, it wasn’t what bothered Pyrrha the most. “There’s only one of them? Where is the other one?” She asked as she raised up her shield to intercept a blast from the Hunter’s plasma cannon.

That is when Pyrrha heard Ren call up to her from behind. Pyrrha risked a quick glance back to see that the second Hunter was behind them and was currently climbing up the other side of the ramp to sandwich them. “Oh, that’s no good. Ren, I kind of have my hands full. Do you think you could do something about that?” She inquired.

Before Ren could manage a response, Nora had beaten him to the punch. “Don’t worry guys, I got this one!” The Pink clad girl declared as she fired off a few grenades at the Hunter at their rear. Then when the Hunter raised its heavy shield to absorb the concussive force of Nora’s explosives she let out an annoyed grunt. “These things are always so stubborn. I guess it’s the direct approach then.” She mused before she swapped out her Brute Shot for her Gravity Hammer and leapt off the ramp and went into free fall towards the Hunter below.

Ren tried to call out to his friend in a vain attempt to stop her from diving headlong into battle, but was interrupted when Pyrrha pulled him aside to avoid another shot from the first Hunter’s plasma cannon. Seeing the bright green ball of plasma zoom past him by only a few inches before it practically blew a hole in the floor below gave Ren all the motivation he needed to spin around and face the enemy before him.

When Ren turned he saw that the Hunter had been joined by a group of four more Elites who were each armed with Type-50 Sniper Rifles, otherwise know as Particle Beam Rifles. A single shot from those rifles would easily be able to burn right through their energy shields and they were deadly accurate at just about any range. However, range wasn’t his strong suit. That meant he would need to get closer if he was going to stand any chance of taking these enemies out. Unfortunately, that would also mean squaring off with the Hunter whose physical strength would outmatch his own by such a large degree that a blow from its massive shield would be no better than getting shot by the snipers.

“I will take the Hunter if you can keep his friends busy.” Pyrrha announced as if reading Ren’s mind.

“I think I can handle that.” Ren quickly replied before the two teammates shared a quick nod. Then they broke into a sprint for the top of the ramp.

Reacting to their charge, the Hunter fired off another plasma blast, this time it was aimed for their feet. Pyrrha and Ren didn’t even break their stride as they leapt over the ball of plasma and the explosion that soon followed it. That was when the Elite’s opened fire with their Beam Rifles, but Pyrrha once again raised her shield to block out the shots. Each shot struck the shield with enough force to shatter the energy shields the Covenant Jackals usually sported, but Pyrrha’s hard light shield held firm under the strain and before long they found themselves at the summit.

With their range advantage lost, the four Elites collectively decided that switching tactics would be best and drew their sidearms. Two of the Elites drew out their energy swords and waited for their enemies to draw closer while the others pulled out their standard plasma rifles and immediately opened fire.

When the first plasma rounds started splashing off of Pyrrha’s shield, Ren slipped out from behind his friend to lay down cover fire. His SMGs sang a quiet melody as the hot dust rounds struck the hands of the rifle wielding Elites causing them to hiss in pain before dropping their weapons to the smooth metal floor.

Then when the two disarmed Elites attempted to reach down to retrieve their fallen weapons, Ren rushed in. He fired his suit’s thrusters and boosted himself forward, allowing him to clear the small distance between him and his enemies in the blink of an eye. The Elites didn’t even have time to react before Ren swept the bladed edges of his weapons across their throats. As they passed through their shields and flesh, Ren’s blades gave off a red glow and released a hiss not unlike oil in a hot skillet.

A moment later and the Elites were on the ground gasping for air and choking on their own blood. Ren paid the fallen Elites no more mind however, and instead he made to move towards the two sword wielders, but suddenly found himself blocked by the Hunter. The massive worm sack was charging at him with its shield raised up in a similar fashion to the way that Nora would hoist her hammer before turning some unfortunate create into a fine paste. Not wanting any part of that, he quickly fired his thruster again and propelled himself out of the Hunter’s path.

Though Ren had slipped past the Hunter, it didn’t stop its charge. It just changed its target to Pyrrha who had been following behind him. Ren considered shouting a warning to his friend, but the red clad warrior didn’t seem worried so he left her to it and continued towards the other two Elites.

//////////////////////////////////////////////

After being separating from his teammates and having limited firepower at his disposal, Jaune had decided a more quiet approach was the best option, and so far it was proving true. The art of the silent kill has never really been his specialty, that was more Ren’s thing, but it was so much easier when you were alone. This was even more true when your enemies were distracted, and few could claim to be a better distraction than Nora Valkyrie.

“This is almost too easy.” Jaune thought to himself as he snuck up on an unsuspecting Elite warrior and drove his combat knife into its backside. The Elite let out a squeal of pain that was quickly silenced by Jaune yanking his blade free and thrusting it back into the alien’s throat. When the Elite stopped its struggling and fell limp, Jaune let out a satisfied sigh before gently setting the alien’s body down in a corner with low visibility.

Then Jaune moved on and poked his head around a corner. He was on the second level now so he got a fairly good look at his surroundings. His team was currently on the other side of the room and had just reached the second level as well, but the bulk of the Covenant forces were still occupying the light bridge between them, so regrouping wasn’t an option. However, the rest of their forces were converging in on his team as well. While that wasn’t necessarily a good thing, it did allow him to move about with some freedom.

Making use of his freedom, Jaune made his way up to an enclosed area of the second level that led out onto the light bridge and when he entered he found it unguarded and even more pleasing, there was a control terminal inside. “Sweet, this should do the trick quite nicely!” He mused as he opened up the terminal and began looking over the screen and the alien symbols on the buttons.

Jaune couldn’t read these like Nora could and he didn’t have nearly the patience to learn, but he had something just as good. He reached a hand around to the back of his helmet and tried to pull out a small chip in one of the slots, but held strong like it was jammed. “Oh, what now!?” Jaune hissed.

Then on queue, Jaune’s visor flashed and multicolored text began to scroll across it. “Please tell me that you’re not planning on putting me in that dirty old terminal.” The text read.

“Come on, I don’t have time for this!” Jaune growled as he continued to yank on the chip to no avail. “I just need you to do this one thing!”

In response to Jaune’s ranting, more text appeared on his heads up display. “Why should I, I don’t work for you.” The text read.

“True, but you work for the councilor and she gave you to me! If you don’t stop being stubborn I might just misplace you in an airlock!” Jaune retorted.

“Is that a threat?” The text read all in dark red letters.

“What if it is? What’re you going to do about it?” Jaune asked venomously.

Then after a moment of nothing happening, new text appeared on Jaune’s HUD. “Mobile Dust Powered Combat Suit Mark-VII Self Destruct Sequence Engaged, T-minus ten seconds and counting.” The text read before a number counter appeared in the middle of his screen.

Jaune began to sputter and back peddle. “Whoa, whoa, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again! Now chill out or you will kill us both!”

“The human definition of death doesn’t really apply to me.” The text said as the countdown halted, but still remained superimposed at the top of the screen. “Besides, I have a back up. I don’t suppose you do?”

Jaune actually chuckled at that. “She warned me you were a bit of a smart ass. Look, I’m not trying to pick a fight here. We’re on the same side after all, right? I just need a little help and if you scratch my back now, maybe I will be more inclined to dust off your hard drive later. That is if you catch my drift.” He offered.

There was another moment of nothing, before to Jaune’s relief the countdown on his screen faded out and was replaced with more text. “I will hold you too that. By the way, the moment you put me in there they will be able to trace our location.” It warned him before he heard a click from the back of his helmet.

Carefully Jaune reached back and easily pulled the small chip free. “I will keep that in mind.” He said before inserting the chip into the alien terminal.

A second after the chip was connected the terminal began to flicker and screen was filled with a red queen chess piece. Then red text began appearing on the screen as well. “I’m in, what are you looking for?”

“That was quick. I need control of that bridge over there. Also if you could get me a map of this ships layout and cause as much havoc as possible, it would make my life a lot easier.” Jaune explained.

“So needy, it’s no wonder the red one doesn’t like you.” The AI jabbed and before Jaune could come up with a good retort it went on. “This will take some time.”

“How long?” Jaune asked.

“About three minutes and eleven seconds.” The AI replied.

Jaune looked thoughtful for a moment before taking another peek outside the enclosure at the rest of the room. By the looks of it his team was still engaging the enemy and they hadn’t noticed his presence yet, that was good. “We got some, but try and be quick.” He declared.

No more text appeared on the screen which told Jaune his digital partner was already hard at work. “Thanks again Neo.” He said before he drew his magnum and took up a position near the door leading out onto the bridge so he could watch out for any approaching enemies.

Luckily there was still no one heading in his direction, but it looked like his team had their hands full. Pyrrha and Nora were each squaring off with a Hunter while Ren was taking on the stragglers. It also looked like more enemies would be joining them soon. Of course that didn’t include the ten or so Elites taking pot shots at them from that damned bridge.

Though Jaune had to give it to his teammates, they were holding out well without him. Ren was like a one man bulletstorm, he was moving with a speed and dexterity that even rivaled that of Ruby Rose, captain of another scavenging team. That said something since Miss Rose’s armor was custom built to optimize her speed. Though, Ren’s also had similar specks so he supposed it made since.

Then there was Pyrrha. Jaune watched the red clad girl ducking and weaving around the Hunter’s plasma cannon shots with relative ease. It was good that she was in the zone since her hard light shield was occupied. She was using it to deflect Beam Rifle shots coming from several different directions.

Jaune also noted that Pyrrha wasn’t drawing either of her DMR or Railgun, but he didn’t find it too odd. After all, it would be a bit difficult to use either of those weapons one-handed, especially at close range. However, it wasn’t a cause for concern since Pyrrha wasn’t limited in the close range department. If anything she was actually far more dangerous up close and she proved that when she reached for the golden dagger that had been hanging at her waist.

When Pyrrha drew the small dagger from its small sheath, she flicked her wrist like she was cracking a whip and the motion caused the blade of the dagger to unfold. The blade had extended to nearly twice its original size and when it reached full length, it began emitting a menacing hum while its edge began to give off a hot red glow. Then Pyrrha took on a low stance with her dagger, which now more closely resembled a spear, extended out past her shield and she waited.

The Hunter must have thought of Pyrrha’s action as a challenge and decided to stump closer to strike her with the back of its shield. That turned out to be just what Pyrrha was hoping for. Pyrrha stepped into the Hunter’s attack and lunged forward with her blade thrusting out before her. Recognizing the attack the Hunter halted mid stride and pulled its raised shield back in an attempt to block the attack. That was the Hunter’s second and last mistake.

The hum of Pyrrha’s blade intensified as it contacted the Hunter’s shield. Then as easy as a keen knife would glide through warm butter, Pyrrha’s spear/dagger punched right through the Hunter’s heavy shield, sliced through its energy shields, then through its thick armor plating, and finally found perches in its soft flesh underneath. Realizing what had just happened, the Hunter wailed in agony for all about three seconds, before Pyrrha yanked hard to the right and dragged her weapon across the Hunter’s body effectively splitting it in two.

Jaune really had to give it to the technicians who put Pyrrha’s equipment together. Unlike most of his old equipment, Pyrrha’s armor and weapon were brand new prototypes. She had been chosen to test them out in the field for the eggheads back home.

The main feature that Pyrrha’s armor included was a new advanced shielding system. It was special because unlike the more traditional energy shields that would create a barrier to block out and absorb attacks, when fully activated, Pyrrha’s armor would create a super powerful magnetic field that would deflect incoming projectiles altogether. Since most human ammunition is made out of magnetic metals and Plasma energy relies on magnetic fields to retain its shape, no traditional human or covenant weaponry can even touch her. However, it does consume a lot of power to use.

Pyrrha’s weapon on the other hand was a real thing of beauty. At first glance most would mistake it for a simple super heated blade much like the ones Ren attached to his weapons. However, that was not the case at all. While super heated blades serve a similar function and are good for cutting through flesh and bone, they can’t reach the high levels of heat required to melt through most metals. Pyrrha’s blade on the other hand was what the technicians called a High Frequency Blade.

Basically Pyrrha’s weapon made use of vibrations. It could vibrate at supersonic speeds and while it was practically invisible to the naked eye, it made it a far more dangerous weapon. By vibrating at such high speeds, it would disrupt and destabilize the molecules in the space around it thus weakening their molecular bonds. By weakening the molecular bonds of the things the blade came close to, the blade could at least in theory cut through anything. No matter how thick and no matter how strong or flexible the material was, that blade would carve right through it like it wasn’t even there.

The Hunter had to learn all this the hard way and now as a result its mass was dissipating while the worms that had made it up began to flee. With the Hunter down, Pyrrha refocused her efforts on a few new arrives that were harassing Ren, and since it seemed like the two of them had it handled Jaune focused on Nora who was fighting another Hunter on the floor below.

Well perhaps fighting wasn’t the right word for what Nora was doing to that, let’s say less than fortunate Hunter. If Jaune had to put a term to what his teammate was actually doing, beating it into submission may be about right. The usually bubbly girl had allowed her slightly less sane characterization of herself to completely take hold, and now she laughing like a maniac while she slammed her Gravity Hammer into the Hunter’s shield over and over again.

The Hunter’s shield was holding out alright against the blunt force assault, but concussive burst of energy that were released with every impact were clearly taking their toll on the goliath. Parts of its heavy armor plating were beginning to crack and fall off. The flesh that was visible underneath the armor was also rippling violently, likely due to the worms that made up its mass trying to wiggle their way to a safer part of the body. Also one thing that was far more alarming was the fact that a few of the cables that fed plasma into the Hunter’s Fuel Rod Cannon had snapped off and were creating a rather volatile leak.

“Just one spark would be all it would take to set that thing off.” Jaune thought allowed and then as if his mind invoked it, he watched as a flash of green lit up the spot where the Hunter had just been a moment ago. Had been, it was an important distinction to make now that the large hunk of worm infested flesh and metal was now several far smaller chunks that were all scattered across the room.

“Oh, shit.” Jaune said as he looked down at the smoldering pile blast zone. Despite himself he couldn’t help but feel a bit worried when he could make out the form of his pink clad comrade among the wreckage. There was no way she had been completely vaporized, but not even she could have gotten out of that without a scratch.

Jaune’s worrying quickly subsided when he spotted movement underneath the former Hunter’s discarded shield. A moment later and his teammate Nora sprang up from below it and tossed it aside before limbering up. She seemed fine, which confused Jaune for a moment, but then he noticed something. The Hunter’s shield had been between Nora and the Fuel Rod when it went off and it must’ve absorbed most of the blast for her.

Not long ago Jaune would have just considered it dumb luck, but when Nora finished limbering up and drew forth her Brute Shot to face off against a group of Elite warrior whose cloaking devices had been rendered useless by the rain of gore she had created a moment ago, he knew she planned it. She was far more clever than she let on.

Jaune used to wonder a lot about what made Nora tick. Why she would chose to only ever use the weapons of the enemy for example. However, over the last few years of fighting by her side, he had come to understand. While at first he had simply assumed that she was doing it on a whim and that it was just another one of Nora’s odd quarks. However, that wasn’t quite right. Nora wasn’t using them just for the giggles. Though, it wasn’t really for the functionality of the weapons either. Of course Nora did like the way the Brute weapons felt, it was less about their practicality, and more about what they symbolized to the enemy.

The Brutes had betrayed the Elites. They had taken their positions at the Prophet’s side right out from under them and even now with the Great War over and the Prophet’s tossed aside, there was still clearly animosity between the two races. Nora’s choice of weapons was meant to bring those feelings of loss and despair back to the forefront of the enemy’s mind. Uncertainty, fear, hatred, it didn’t really matter which of these feeling the weapons invoked in the Covenant because they would all serve the same purpose.

“It seems like they are holding up okay.” Jaune muttered to himself before he slipped back out of sight and went to check the terminal. “How’s it going? Are you done yet?” He inquired.

There was a long moment of quiet static before words finally appeared on the display. “Almost, they’re trying to isolate me so it’s difficult. I have found something that may interest you, though.”

“Oh, what could that be?” Jaune asked curiously.

“This ships slipspace drive is being engaged and will likely be ready in about ten minutes and thirty-two seconds.” The AI replied.

“What!? Where are they planning to go!? If their making a break for it and we get stuck on this thing when it slips, we will be screwed!” Jaune roared.

“It doesn’t look like they plan to retreat. Based on these coordinates they will be jumping close to the city of Vale, about three miles above the surface.” The AI explained.

“Vale, those crazy ass splitjaws!” Jaune growled. “If they jump into the middle of the city before our bomb goes off, then we would end up with a 37,555 foot hunk of burning metal falling on top of us. We can’t allow that, I need you to see if you can do anything to slow them down!”

“You’re as needy as ever, but very well. By the way, I believe they have pinpointed our location so you may want to look out for that.” The AI replied.

“Crap!” Jaune muttered as he rushed back to the door to peek out onto the bridge. One of the tougher looking Elite Zealots, possibly the one leading this group, had a hand to the side of his helmet. It looked like he was receiving a transmission. Whatever it entailed mustn’t have been pleasant since its jaw clenched up to create a rather ugly expression before it pointed in Jaune’s direction and started barking orders at the others.

Then when several of the Elite warrior’s broke away and began rushing Jaune’s way, he could tell they had saw him too based on the way they picked up their pace and began firing at him. “Double crap!” Jaune shouted as he ducked back into cover to avoid the plasma. “I guess this isn’t going to be easy after all!” He grumbled as he readied himself for another fight.

Not wanting his enemies to gain too much ground, Jaune decided to take a page out of Nora’s playbook. In case it wasn’t obvious, every page in Nora’s playbook involves explosives. So he pulled a pair fragmentation grenades free from his waist and took a moment to peek out and chuck them out the door into the path of his attackers.

After Jaune had thrown the grenades, he didn’t want to give the enemy another chance to shoot at him, so he quickly retreated back into cover. Since he didn’t stick around to see the grenades go off, he couldn’t be sure how effect they were, but the sound of panicked roars followed by a thunderous boom, and finally pained groans was telling enough.

“How’s that bridge coming along?” Jaune asked in a less than calm tone.

In response to Jaune’s inquiry there was a flicker by the terminal before a holographic image appeared before it. The image seemed to be projecting directly from the chip that he had stuck into the terminal before and it took the shape of a small human woman. The woman’s hair a mix of browns, whites, and pinks, her clothing was primarily white, and she held a parasol in one hand. The woman seemed to be looking right at Jaune and her expression was less than impressed.

“Well?” Jaune urged, ignoring the AI’s annoyance.

The AI proceeded to roll her eyes before motioning for Jaune to come over to the terminal. Jaune didn’t hesitate as he rushed over to see the screen. The first thing he saw was more text. “I’ve got control of the grid, what do you want me to do?”

“Alright Neo, shut it down!” Jaune commanded and on queue the lights in the room flickered and Jaune quickly glanced back out just in time to see the show.

The light bridge was dimming and beginning to flicker just like the lights had and everything being held up by the concentrated partials started to wobble. Jaune watched with glee as the Covenant on the bridge began to panic and scramble to escape, but it was too late. A second later and the bridge fizzled out completely leaving the enemies to plummet to the floor below, each landing with a meaty thud. It wasn’t what most would call a great fall, but it was enough to leave many of them dazed and injured and those were the lucky ones. Those that weren’t so lucky ended up with shattered skulls and broken backs, a few were even crushed by heavier comrades or their own equipment.

Seeing all this carnage made Jaune let out a laugh of amusement. His laughter was only halted when he heard the voice of Pyrrha call out to him. “Jaune, you did it!”

Jaune looked up to the end of the room where the bridge would have connected. There he saw his teammates Ren and Pyrrha posted up on the ledge and surrounded by piled up Covenant bodies. Jaune nodded in their direction and moved his hand up to his helmet to activate his radio. “Was there ever any doubt?”

Then Jaune heard a roar coming from down below and refocused on the Covenant pile up. They were beginning to get back to their feet, at least the ones who still could. Jaune couldn’t have that, so he turned back toward the terminal to address his artificial companion. “Power the bridge back up!”

In response to Jaune’s demand, the holographic girl raised an eyebrow and gave him a look that seemed to ask if he was being serious. Jaune tried to glare back, but the helmet made that difficult so he just resorted to shouting. “Yes I’m serious! Do it now!” The AI shook her head before disappearing and a moment later the lights flickered and power was restored to the bridge.

Without waiting a moment Jaune rushed out onto the bridge and hailed his teammates before pointing down at the enemy below. It didn’t take them long to understand, they had the high ground now. It was the perfect chance to settle this, and settle they did. The three of them began raining hot lead from above, steadily cutting down the stragglers. Then when a few of them wizened up and tried to take cover directly underneath the bridge in their attackers blind spot, the last member of team JNPR made her triumph return.

“Well, well, well, what do we have hear? It looks like Charismas came early.” Nora mused as she sauntered up and loaded a fresh strap of grenades into her Brute Shot. When the end of the strap was stuffed inside, she reached up to a lever on the front of the weapon and yanked it back with a click to lock them in and prime the weapon. “It’s too bad you’ve all been very bad boys.”

That was when Nora began unloading into the crowd and transforming the clusterfuck into a cluster bomb. The Elite’s shields had been damaged in the fall and due to the gunfire that had followed they hadn’t had any chance of regenerating them. Without protection against the explosive bombardment, the enemy’s losses were quickly mounting.

Despite all of this, the Elite’s leader still stood, but he knew this was a losing battle. Left with few options that would spare his honor, he decided to go down fighting. The Elite drew his sword and charged at Nora as he roared. “I am Thasa 'Kusov, and if I am to die here I will take you down with me!”

Nora laughed before she spoke again, this time in once again in Sangheili. “Those are some nice last words. That’s how I will remember you Thasa ‘Kusov, as someone who could achieve their dying wish!” With that she pulled the trigger and let loose an explosive round in Thasa’s direction.

Thasa realized he was moving too fast to change direction, so he did the only thing he could think and blocked the grenade with his sword. Surprising no one, the grenade detonated on impact and blew apart the blade that had intercepted it along with most of Thasa’s right arm. Thasa staggered backward in shock and stumbled over the body of a fallen comrade and before he could return to his feet once more, Nora was upon him. The last thing Thasa saw was the business end of a Gravity Hammer.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Bridge of Covenant Flagship Final Absolution

The bridge was in chaos. Holographic displays were malfunctioning and monitors kept flickering, everyone couple of seconds a red queen chess piece would appear before vanishing and returning to normal. The crew members operating the bridge were running around frantically, shouting and arguing with one another. Ziro was at his command station with his head cupped in one hand and doing little other than silently observing.

“Have you purged that AI yet!?” One of the officers yelled at another.

“No, its acting strangely, almost like it’s one of ours!” The other officer shouted back. “However, we have just pinpointed its location. I’m sending the info to Thasa 'Kusov now!”

A few more moments past and Ziro received word that Thasa had been slain, but still he said nothing. What could he say? His men had failed him and in turn he had failed them. He thought he was prepared for these demons. He misjudged their strength and now everything he had worked for, everything that he had been fighting for, it was all crumpling before him. Now that it had come to this, there was only one hope left.

“Is the slipspace drive ready yet?” Ziro asked in a clam tone.

“Yes shipmaster! We should be ready to jump in two more minutes!” The navigations officer reported back.

Ziro just nodded before he leaned back in his seat once again and focused on his monitor.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

**Core of the Covenant Flagship Final Absolution**

After Jaune had set his team the task of mopping up the rest of their ambushers, he had stealthily retrieved his AI chip and returned it to its proper place in his helmet. He had been pleased to find out that his artificial companion had succeeded in procuring a 3D map of the ship. Using that made it a simple task to locate a direct route to the ship’s Core.

Said route ended up being a gravity lift not far from the room they had fought the enemy in. Once they reached the bottom it would be a straight shot to the Core and Jaune was itching to get this done and get out of here. So he was pleased when they faced little resistance on their way to the lift.

“Alright guys, here’s the lift I told you about!” Jaune announced as they came to stand before it.

Like most Covenant tech it was bright, smooth, and way too purple for Jaune’s tastes, but Nora didn’t seemed to mind. “Wow, so shiny. I don’t think I’ve ever rode one of these down before. I wonder what it will feel like.” Nora pondered as she playfully dipped her hand into the well of light and watched it be slowly dragged downward before yanking it back out.

“Probably not that different, all gravity lifts regardless of their directional pool operated the same way.” Ren chimed in.

“Well, only one way find out!” Nora cheered before hopping into the well and being yanked downward out of sight.

“Nora, don’t run ahead!” Ren hissed in annoyance before hopping in after her.

Jaune and Pyrrha shared a quick look before Jaune shrugged and made to go down as well, but was stopped when Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder. Jaune groaned internally. “What is it now?” He asked.

“I just have two things.” Pyrrha said with a sign. “Firstly, I’m sorry. I know that I’ve been acting like a total, umm, female dog lately, but you have to understand that I’m only acting this way because I care. I don’t want to see you being hurt or used and you’re not making this any easier on me. Do you really hate me that much?”

“What of course not, why would you even think that!?” Jaune shot back immediately. “I could never hate you, Pyr!”

Pyrrha seemed to visually relax when Jaune said that. That made Jaune cringe, his partner had actually started to believe that he hated her. Sure she annoyed the shit out of him on a daily basis. It was almost like her morning routine at this point. Get up, brush my teeth, bitch at Jaune for being a massive douche. Now that Jaune thought about it, this could be why she thinks this way.

Jaune’s thoughts were interrupted when Pyrrha spoke again. “Thanks Jaune, you, you have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that.” Pyrrha looked away and became silent for a moment before speaking again. “I just have one more thing. I don’t know how you did what you did back in the other room, with the bridge and lights. I also can’t help but wonder how you suddenly know exactly where to go to get us to the Core, but I get the feeling that woman has something to do with it.”

Jaune felt himself stiffening in response to his teammate’s words. She didn’t know about Neo and no one on his team or from Beacon was supposed to either. The AI was given to him as a precaution, but it was without a doubt something he wasn’t supposed to have. “Pyrrha, I…”

“I’m not going to stop you from seeing the people you want to see, nor will I berate you into spilling all of your secrets, but please be careful. Do that for all our sakes.” Pyrrha interrupted her leader. Then with that said, Pyrrha quickly stepped forward and allowed the gravity well to pull her down to the floor below.

Jaune didn’t move for a long moment, he just stared down the light well at his descending partner. Then more text began to appear on his head up display. “Was that my fault?”

“You know for an AI that doesn’t speak, you sure have a big mouth!” Jaune growled.

“Gees, with this much angst, you’d think this was some sort of teen drama. Though if it were a drama, I guess that would make you the main character, huh? Say, since you’re a main character and all, how about you move this plot along already. This feels like this has been dragging on forever and I’m getting bored.” The AI retorted.

Jaune shook his head, choosing to ignore the AI’s jabs before he leapt into the well and rode it down to the floor below. Once he arrived a few seconds later, he was greeted by the sight of his team, luckily still all in one piece, but he also spotted another large blast door blocking their path forward. This blast door was just like the one Nora had ‘hacked’ before, but based on the way Nora angrily pounding on the nearby terminal, it wasn’t going to be so simple this time around.

“What’s the problem? Is the terminal broken or something?” Jaune asked, causing his team to refocus their attention on him.

“This stupid thing is being stupid!” Nora roared in frustration as she continued to fiddle with the device.

That detailed explanation was helpful and all, but Jaune wanted to make sure he had all the facts, so he turned towards his other two teammates for further enlightenment. “So, what is she on about?” He asked.

“She’s locked out of the system.” Ren replied. “The terminal seems to be in working order,” Ren paused when he heard a crashing sound coming from the location of the terminal. “Seemed to be in working order, but manual access seems to be getting denied.”

“Crap, is that my fault?” Jaune thought to himself. He had been the one to highjack their systems, or at least Neo had. This must be their way of blocking them. Though, it didn’t really matter. There was always more than one way to skin a Beowolf. “Well it’s not like we need to worry about stealth anymore, so how about you give it a shot, Pyrrha?” He inquired.

Pyrrha must have already figured that would be the case and she quickly nodded and reached over her shoulder to draw her Railgun and leveled it at the door. “Do you think that will pack enough punch?” Ren asked.

Pyrrha shrugged. “It’s the hardest hitting option we have available right now, so it’s at least worth a shot.” She said and she ignored Nora’s comment about how she resented that remark and took aim once again. Not like it was going to be a hard mark to hit, but aiming at the floor at her feet was obviously a no go. Once she locked in the center of mass, she squeezed the trigger down, but the Railgun didn’t fire right away. Instead it began to hum as it built up electrical energy. Then a few seconds later when the energy reached their peaks, Pyrrha released the trigger and sent a tennis ball sized chunk of lead flying in the door at hypersonic speeds.

Almost the moment the accelerated projectile left Pyrrha’s weapon, it had impacted with the large blast door with enough force to rip right through a Warthog’s engine block and turn its drive into a fine red mist. Unfortunately even though her Railgun worked similarly to the Gauss Cannons of their Booster Frames, scale was a thing here, and these doors were designed to withstand such impacts. So while the doors did bend inward to form a small crater around the point of impact, they didn’t buckle. There wasn’t even a big enough gap for anyone of them to squeeze through.

“Ah, it didn’t work.” Nora signed.

Pyrrha sighed as she returned her Railgun to its magnetic strip, making sure it was secure in place before she drew her high frequency blade up off her hip. With a quick flick she extended her weapon to its full length. “Well we’ve to get through that door one way or another, so I guess I will just have to cut through. However, this may take awhile.” She explained.

“Are you worried the enemy will catch up to us?” Ren inquired.

Pyrrha gave a nod. Jaune had to agree, the chances of them running into the enemy again was fairly high. He assumed that the enemy already knew where they heading, how else would they have set up the first ambush? And if they knew that, setting up a second wouldn’t be all that strange. So Jaune pondered for a moment before he glanced back the way they came and inspiration hit him. “Hey Nora, do you think you might be able to access that terminal?” He asked as he pointed his pink clad teammate towards a terminal beside the gravity lift.

Nora tilted her head to the side in an uncertain manner before answering. “Umm maybe, I haven’t really tried. Though, by the looks of it, that terminal is only setup to control the lift. So even if I could access it, I wouldn’t be able to do much.” She replied.

“That’s fine I just want you to see if you could invert the gravity field. We may need to beat a quick escape, so it would be a big help if we actually had an escape route. Also if you invert the flow, then any enemies coming from behind us won’t be able to reach this floor.” Jaune replied.

“Hey, yeah, that’s a great idea! I’m on it, boss!” Nora cheered before she rushed over to start fiddling with the lift controls. With that, Ren and Jaune shared a nod before drawing their weapons and taking up ready positions in both directions.

A few minutes later and Pyrrha had nearly cut a hole in the door large enough for a person to walk through. However, even though the metal had been cut free, it was still wedged in the frame and she was having trouble pushing the heavy object out. Letting out another sigh, she holstered her blade and took a few steps back before drawing her Railgun once again.

“It should be weakened enough now for this to work.” Pyrrha explained before she charged up and took another shot. And work it did. Unlike the first time she had shot the door, rather than a dent, a massive chunk of the door was blown right out of the frame.

Jaune whistled. “Nice work Pyr! Now how about you and Ren take point?” He instructed and once he received a nod he turned back towards the lift. He was pleased to see that it was now flowing in the other direction.

Then when Jaune’s pink clad teammate ran over to him and said. “Mission complete boss, now praise me!” He just shook his head.

“Good work to you too, Nora. Now come on, we’re almost there. There is no sense in breaking stride now.” Jaune said as turned to head for the door and waved Nora along.

“Coming!” Nora cheered as she began to skip along to catch up, but they both stalled in their tracks when they heard the tell tale signs of a firefight kicking up in the corridor ahead of them. They spared a brief moment to glance at each other. Then Nora’s helmet flashed violent pink as she slipped back into character and they both dashed through the opening in the door.

Once the JN of JNPR reached the other side of the door, they found their teammates pinned down by a steady stream of plasma fire coming from further ahead of them. There wasn’t anything for them to take cover behind on this side of the door so Pyrrha’s shield was the only thing standing between them and incineration.

Knowing he would need to do something quick, Jaune then focused his gaze on the enemy down the corridor. Much to his displeasure it was cram packed with Covenant warriors of all shapes and sizes. He almost had trouble believing they could still put up such a strong front, but he supposed that this was to be expected. This was a large ship and based on the number of crafts in the hanger alone, there had to be hundreds of soldiers on board. Also they had the advantage of knowing where they were going, which gave them all the time in the world to set up this last stand.

“So be it.” Jaune mumbled to himself as he rushed forward and deployed his own energy shield to help cover the team. Then after Nora had taken cover behind them, Jaune turned to Pyrrha to speak. “We don’t have enough time to clear all these assholes out, so I guess we'll just have to run it!”

Pyrrha gave a nod. “Agreed, but what did you have in mind? Are you thinking the Troy formation?”

Though Pyrrha couldn’t see it, Jaune was now smiling under his helmet. “You kick down the gates and I’ll cover your heels.” Pyrrha shook her head and chuckled, but didn’t issue any complaints. With Pyrrha on board, Jaune glanced back at their other two teammates. “You guy’s ready to do this!?”

“Always!” Nora cheered as she hoisted her Brute Shot.

Ren made one last quick check of his SMGs to make sure the clips were loaded before replying with. “I’m green to go.”

Then Jaune stepped forward while the others crouched behind his shield and Pyrrha retracted hers. Pyrrha took one long breath before she shouted. “Dust Overdrive!”

With the audio command issued Pyrrha’s armor sprang to life, a golden glow starting to appear along the suit’s seams as dust was pumped through it. Then a spark kicked up from her suit, then flash, and then a surge, and finally there was a static pop as her energy shields seemed to disburse like she had been hit with an EMP. One watching from the outside might have thought it an equipment failure, but it couldn’t have been further from it.

“I’m ready.” Pyrrha declared.

“Good, I’m getting hammered here!” Jaune winced as he watched his shield flicker with each consecutive impact.

“Switch me!” Pyrrha shouted and for once Jaune didn’t seem interested in arguing, he just ducked back behind the rest of the group while Pyrrha dashed forward and toward the enemy with her high frequency blade in hand.

Of course the sudden change in formation didn’t do much to dissuade the few hundred plasma rounds that were already inbound to change course, nor did it give the enemy any reason to halt their fire. However, it didn’t need to. The moment when the plasma rounds entered the air space around Pyrrha, a spark would job from her suit catching it mid flight and causing it to burst like a balloon and splash off of her suit harmlessly.

The Covenant wasn’t sure what to make of what they were seeing, sure it had already been a long day filled with surprises, but plasma rounds dissolving in mid flight was a new one. From their perspective, it looked like the plasma would get within a few feet of the red clad demon then it would simply lose its shape before turning into vapor and ceasing to exist altogether. However, they didn’t have long to dwell on such thoughts since team JNPR was barreling through them like a bat out of hell.

With Pyrrha leading the charge, nothing the enemy could fire at them was even coming close to hitting, but they were more than able to fight back. Pyrrha’s blade was cutting down everything that got in their path while Ren and Nora focused on the stragglers left in their wake. Jaune was bringing up the rear, using his shield to deflect any incoming attacks from behind.

At about the halfway point in the corridor, one of the Elites actually jumped in front of Pyrrha and tried to take a swing at her with his energy sword. However, as the blade of plasma came closer to Pyrrha, it seemed to bend and flex in an unnatural way. Then right before it looked like it might make contact with her, the magnetic field that made the plasma hold its shape burst and the sword practically exploded in the Elite’s hand, leaving him with nothing but a burnt out sword handle and some fresh plasma burns to show for his efforts.  
Not long after that, Pyrrha decided to clear a bit cleaner a path, so changed her grip on her spear and stepped into a throwing stance before releasing the weapon and watching it ark through the air towards the enemies. The business end of the spear made contact with an Elite’s chest, then the shoulder of the Elite behind the first, then as it dropped altitude it struck the energy shield of a Jackal, and then the Jackal holding it, and finally impaled a Grunt on the far side of the Corridor and pinned them both to the floor.

Now finding herself unarmed without missing a beat, Pyrrha drew out her Railgun and began charging it up. With her overdrive active she didn’t need to worry about the enemy impeding her, so she took aim carefully and hit a Hunter square in its center of mass turning it into fleshy chunks. Then she quickly swapped again, this time retrieving her DMR and taking out a few suicidal Grunts with precision shots to their heads. She kept firing her DMR until the ammo meter hit 00 and it was just in time to retrieve her spear from the fallen Grunt and continue on.

A few seconds later and the mad dash had ended. Jaune and his team exited the corridor and entered a large space suspended over a cavernous expanse filled with humming mechanical equipment. They had entered the Core chamber, the source of the ship’s power and their primary objective. Once in this space Jaune, Nora, and Ren stopped their advance and turned to hold the entrance while Pyrrha deactivated her overdrive and kept going towards the center of the chamber.

Once at the center of the chamber, Pyrrha dropped down and pulled the blast proof case free from its perch on her back and set it on the ground. Quickly, Pyrrha entered the passcode she had been given to unlock it and popped it open to reveal an unassuming black and white canister with a simple timer on the face. At first glance one might have mistaken it for an old alarm clock, but to the informed it was the last thing you would want next to your bedside.

Though, Pyrrha had to admit. If the bomb actually went off, it would certainly wake you up in a hurry. That is of course if it didn’t vaporize you in the explosion. Pyrrha shook her head, now was the time to focus. She armed the bomb, set the timer, closed the blast proof box back up, and chucked it over the edge into the cavern below. The box was designed to protect the contents of it from the outside, not the other way around. So it would be more than enough to protect the bomb from the fall, but would do next to nothing to stifle the explosion, and with the bomb now out of reach, there was no way for the Covenant to stop it. At least not in the ten minutes she had set it to.

With her job done, Pyrrha looked back to her team and called out to them. “The mission is complete, it’s time for an exit strategy!”

“Good work Pyr, how much time did you give us!?” Jaune shouted back. Pyrrha didn’t so much answer, but rather sent an indicator to the heads up display of each of her teammates. “Ten minutes huh? Well, time to go!” He commanded as they made to run back down the corridor they had come.

From there the team managed to make it to a set of nearby emergency escape pods. They knew about them because of the map that Jaune had procured earlier, and thanks to Nora and some stealthy assistance from Neo they were able to get them prepped and ready for launch in no time. They weren’t the most ideal method of escape given the fact that they were only designed to hold a single person so the team would need to split up, but on top of that, they would be defenseless once they were jettisoned. The risk of getting shot out of the sky was fairly high, so they decided to just go ahead and jettison every escape pod at once. Hitting one-hundred moving targets was a lot harder than hitting four after all.

As Jaune felt his pod jerk as it was shot out and was taken by Remnant’s atmosphere, he remembered something important. “Oh by the way Neo, did you ever manage to shut down their slipspace drive?” He asked.

For a moment there was nothing, only the rumbling sound of reentry and Jaune’s unhappy stomach. Then text finally began to appear. “Yeah, sorry I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t have enough time. *shrug*”

“What!?” Jaune shouted so loudly that he almost caused his breakfast to come up. Monty did he hate reentry. “Neo, why didn’t you say something sooner!? If we don’t do something Vale’s going to turn into ground zero!” He roared.

“Did you seriously just ask me that? Gees don’t worry so much. I may not have been able to stop it completely, but I did manage to throw off the coordinates a bit, so Vale should be in the clear.” The AI explained.

“Oh thank Monty.” Jaune sighed in relief. “So where did you send the ship?” He asked curiously.

“Well, have you heard of Mountain Glenn?” The AI questioned.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////

**Bridge of the Covenant Flagship Final Absolution**

“Shipmaster the Demons have disappeared!”

“I don’t care.” Ziro dismissed.

“Shipmaster the escape pods have all ejected!”

“Shoot them down.” Ziro replied.

“But, but sir what if our brothers are on-“ The officer didn’t get to finish that question as Ziro pulled a Plasma Rifle from his hip and shot him in the head.

“Shoot them down!” Ziro barked and this time nobody argued. “Are our slipspace drives ready yet!?” He asked.

“Not ye- oh wait- yes! Shipmaster we’re ready to make the jump!”

“Then do it!” Ziro ordered.

With that, Ziro watched as the space around his ship began to bend and within seconds a rip in space opened up before them and they slipped through.

/////////////////////////////////////////////

**Planet Remnant Mountain Glenn**

Ziro ship sprang forth from slipspace above an abandoned city surrounded by a vast mountain range and right away he knew this couldn’t be right. “This isn’t right!? Where is the artifact!? These are not the coordinates I set!” He barked angrily.

“Umm, I don’t know shipmaster! There must have been some sort of error, or it was that AI’s doing!” The navigations officer declared.

“And you didn’t see this coming!?” Ziro roared.

“Umm, well shipma-“ The navigations officer was cut off by another volley from Ziro’s rifle.

Then Ziro let out one final roar of frustration before somewhere a timer ticked down to zero and the whole bridge erupted in a fireball.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

**Planet Remnant Forerunner Installation 0360**

“And that’s the long and the short of it.” Jaune finished his tale and he had to let out a sigh because it really had been a hell of a day now that he thought about it. On top of that, retelling the story while carefully trying to leave out anything that some might consider incriminating was difficult. Omitting Neo made it really hard to explain the bridge thing, so he really had to skim during that part.

“Wow, that must’ve been amazing!” Ruby Rose cheered. “I wish I could’ve been there, though I guess I was having some intense action of my own at the time so its whatever.”

“Whatever? Gees the way you say it, it makes it sound like you don’t care about me.” He teased.

“What!? No, no, no! That’s not it at all!” Ruby defended. “I’m really glad you’re back safe and sound! It just feels like we haven’t seen each other in forever!”

Jaune shrugged. “By the way, where is the rest of your team?” He asked.

“Oh, that’s right! I was so worried about Coco I kind of ditched them!” Ruby said in a panic as she began to look around for her missing teammates.

Coco Adel sighed before she reached over to grab hold of the smaller girl’s helm and forcibly turn it in the right direction. She saw that they were all not only unharmed, but were heading their way. “Ruby!” Yang called out to her sister as she ran over to her and pulled her into a hug. “I’m so glad your okay, don’t run off alone like that!”

“Sorry, Yang.” Ruby pouted.

Jaune and Coco each gave a nod to the members of Team RWBY, both happy to see everyone in one piece after a day like today. Then their gaze fell on the hulking green soldier that was with them. The guy’s gear looked similar to their own, older but perhaps even higher quality. For a moment Jaune wondered if he was a scavenger like them, but quickly through that notion out. The guy was even bigger than Yatzu from Team CFVY and that guy was considered a giant among most of their peers. So surely somebody like this guy would have stood out like a sore thumb.

Finally curiosity got the better of him and he asked. “So who’s the jolly green giant?” He said directing a finger in the Chief’s direction.

When he said that all of team RWBY seemed to go stiff and for a moment he thought he might have said something to offend, but then the giant spoke. “I’m Spartan 117. You may call me Chief or John, whichever you prefer.”

“Oh, a Spartan that makes sense.” Jaune replied before his brain had a chance to really process what it had heard. “Wait, a Spartan!?” He shouted.

Before Jaune could get any answers, a storm of reinforcements had descended onto the battlefield, and before long, the area had been secured, and they got news that the enemy fleet was pulling a full retreat. Everything looked like it was going to have a happy ending after all, until they were paid a surprise visit by the good General himself.

The moment General James Ironwood’s personal transport ship set down outside the Forerunner instillation, about two dozen of his men had team RWBY and the Chief surrounded and at gun point. Then when the General stepped off his ship the first thing he said was. “Team Ruby Rose, your team has willfully violated our protocols by allowing a member of the UNSC to step foot on our planet. As such, by the authority vested in me by the Council of Remnant, I’m placing you all under arrest!”

**To Be Continued... Next Season**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, see you next season.


	17. An Old Friend Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Season two has finally arrived and revelations abound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally season two is here! A few important things about this chapter you should know. This is very much an exposition chapter so don't expect too much action. Also this chapter is heavy in the Halo themes, so it will mostly focus on Master Chief.
> 
> Also something that is very important, this chapter will feature some SPOILER's for the Ghost of Onyx Halo novel. If you have yet to read it and plan to, or have never heard of it. I highly recommend you go check it out. It is a great read and you will understand this chapter a great deal more if you do.
> 
> Of course RWBY fans should feel left out, they will still be playing a large role moving forward.
> 
> Anyway, have fun and if you enjoyed it or even if you didn't, please feel free to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below.

**Planet Remnant Forerunner Installation 0360**

“Huh!?” Ruby sputtered.

“What is the meaning of this!?” Weiss demanded.

“It is as I said,” General Ironwood said dryly. “You, your team, and the intruder you have brought onto our planet are under arrest. So I suggest you drop your weapons and come along quietly.”

“And if we don’t?” Yang questioned as she glared daggers at the general. The grip she had on her shotgun tightening, but making no move to aim it anywhere other than the ground.

The General sighed as he signaled his men to ready themselves. “Then you will force my hand and blow any chance of this ending peacefully. A move I find to be very ill advised given your current situation.”

“Well isn’t this typical.” Blake hissed.

The Chief tensed as he regarded the General’s men fanning out around him and his allies. He could faintly hear the sound of safeties disengaging and weapons being cocked. Taking a quick head count of the enemies, he estimated that his chances of victory would be slim if this came down to a fight.

Given that the Chief’s opponents seemed to be normal soldiers with no shielding units, standard issue weaponry, and minimalistic body armor, he figured that even without the aid of team RWBY this fight would still be in his favor, but there was one major problem. He didn’t know where he would go from here if he won. Perhaps rush the general and highjack his vessel, but he very much doubted the small ship had slipspace capabilities, which would leave him trapped on a now hostile planet. A hostile planet that was capable of training soldiers of team RWBY’s caliber. That would not ideal.

On top of all that, it had been quite a long time since the Chief had to fight his fellow man. At least if he wasn’t counting the times hey had been controlled by the flood parasite it’s been well over a decade.

Ever since the Covenant had made their first appearance, the rebel factions had been the least of the UNSC’s concerns. So of course the Spartan IIs had just about all been reassigned. It was far easier to rally behind suppressing an alien threat than a domestic one.

“John, are you alright?” Chief heard his AI companion ask through his helmet’s speakers.

“I’m fine, just thinking about our next move.” Chief replied promptly.

“You may want to think faster then, it seems like our allies have made their decision.” Cortana stated.

That got Chief’s attention as he quickly glanced over to see that team RWBY were in the middle of surrendering their weapons, albeit begrudgingly. Weiss and Blake had already handed over their weapons and Yang had tossed her borrowed shotgun aside.

“Hand those over too!” One of the general’s men commanded as he pointed out the pair of golden gauntlets strapped to Yang’s wrists.

Yang mumbled something unflattering under her breath, but quickly complied folding up the gauntlets and slipping them off her wrists. “Fine, they’re spent anyway.” She spat as she practically threw them in the soldier’s face, causing the man to shout some colorful words back at the girl which she ignored.

The last one was their team leader Ruby. She had tossed aside her side arm right away, but her main weapon was still gripped tightly in her hands. This was a fact that didn’t sit well with the general’s men. “Hand over the rifle, Miss Rose!” One of them commanded.

“I’m not leaving Crescent Rose behind and you can’t carry it.” Ruby declared.

“What was that!?” The soldier shot back. “I said hand it over!”

Ruby shook her head. “I told you, you can’t carry it. There would be no point in handing it over.” She told the soldier.

“You think this is a game!” The soldier roared as he raised his rifle to point at the smaller woman’s head. The soldier’s actions caused every member on both sides to become very tense.

“Very well, but do not drop her.” Ruby relented as she folded up the rifle and held it out with one hand.

The soldier hesitated for a moment wondering if this was some sort of trick, but then quickly reached out to snatch the large weapon. This was a move that proved to be a mistake as he instantly crumbled once the one-hundred pound weapon’s full weight fell upon him.

The soldier screamed in panic as Ruby’s weapon pinned him to the ground, causing the girl to shake her head and sigh. “I told you, you couldn’t carry it. At least you kept my baby from touching the ground.” She said as she reached down to reclaim her weapons, but she paused when she noticed that about half a dozen weapons were now pointing her way. “What, I didn’t do it!?”

“Step back, Miss Rose!” One of the soldiers roared.

“I’m just trying to-“ Ruby began before being interrupted by a hand being placed on her shoulder. Ruby craned her neck to see that it was Jaune and Coco, and her team were now close behind them. They also had their helmets off which allowed her to see the sour expression they were all wearing.

Jaune shook his head at Ruby before stepping past her to pick up her weapon and lug it over his shoulder. “I can look after this for you if that’s alright.” He declared to both Ruby and the General.

“Hey, you can’t do that!” One of the soldiers argued.

“It’s fine,” The general declared before turning his attention back to Jaune. “Hell, Mister Arc. Glad to see you’ve made it back to us in one piece.” He declared as he met the younger man’s cool gaze.

Jaune scoffed at that. “Yeah I bet you’re thrilled to see me again, Ironwood.” He said sarcastically. “Speaking of, how is my team doing? Have they checked in yet?”

General Ironwood gave a nod. “They’re doing well, all members are accounted for, and we have already dispatched rescue teams to recover them. Well done on that mission by the way, your team exceeded even my expectations.”

The way the general said that made Jaune briefly wonder what expectations the general had. He wasn’t being serious earlier about the general hoping he died on that mission, but now he wasn’t so sure. One thing is for sure though, that mission could’ve turned out a lot worse for him and his team.

“Now then,” The general said turning towards the last person still holding onto their weapons. “Spartan, I realize that peaceful resolution isn’t usually how you operate, but I’m going to ask you to stand down.”

The Chief’s grip on his assault rifle tightened. The soldiers seemed well trained enough to notice this subtle action and began eyeing him worriedly. Chief found it slightly interesting that they suddenly seemed so intimidated when they had acted so confidant when disarming the others. Chief supposed he had the war propaganda to thank for that. If there was anything the UNSC were good about, it was selling the idea that their Spartans were unbeatable war machines. Not that he could blame them for that. It gave the people hope after all. However, none of that really mattered right now.

“Chief,” Cortana spoke up again breaking Chief’s concentration. “Penny wants to speak with you. Should I patch her through?”

Hearing that, the Chief looked over towards team RWBY’s leader Ruby Rose who seemed to be focusing her attention on him. “Patch her through and keep us silent.” He ordered.

“Roger, opening line now.” The AI replied before a hum of static came through the Chief’s helmet.

“Salutations friend!” The voice of team RWBY’s personal AI came through Chief’s helmet.

“Hello Penny, what can I do for you?” Chief asked while turning back to make focus on the soldiers surrounding him. They still haven’t made a move.

“I bring a message from Captain Ruby!” Penny declared happily. “She would like to request for you to stand down.” Chief made a surprised grunt, but before he could ask for her reasoning the AI continued. “She also says that everything will be okay, Mister Ozpin will help us.”

“Ozpin huh, you sure about that?” The Chief asked.

“Of course, he always comes through for us. I’m sure when we explain the situation he will be willing to help you too.” The AI replied without hesitation.

The Chief hummed in thought, but before he could make a proper decision he heard the general speak up. “Now is your last chance Spartan, are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?”

Chief noted the hard edge in the general’s voice as he looked over to meet the man’s eyes. They were laser focused on him and the Chief saw that the man’s right hand was sneaking towards his side arm. It didn’t seem like he expected this to go peacefully anymore. Then the Chief heard the sound of weapons coming free from holsters behind him.

Craning his head to look behind him, the Chief saw that the blond boy who had picked up Ruby’s weapon and the members of team CFVY now had their weapons trained on him. “Don’t do anything stupid big guy.” The blond one warned as he pulled the hammer of his magnum back with his thumb.

The Chief gave his assault rifle’s ammo meter one last glance, he only had about half a clip left, and no extras on hand. Realizing it wouldn’t be enough for this many foes, he let a deep sigh slip through and whispered under his breath. “I guess there is a first time for everything.” Then he finally released his grip on the weapon allowing it to fall to the ground before he spoke aloud. “I surrender.”

The moment the Chief spoke those words, everyone seemed to visibly relax. Weapons were lowered and the tension in team RWBY’s shoulders evaporated almost instantly. “Smart man,” The general said before motioning for his soldiers to move. “Cuff them and bring them on board!” He ordered before turning to reenter his ship.

Following their orders, the soldiers drew forth a set of metal handcuffs to bind each of the hands of their new prisoners. Chief noted with some relief and confusion that the cuffs were small simple things made out of steel. More than enough to hold an average man sure, but a Spartan in full Mjolnir armor not so much. They could just barely fit around his wrists and if he actually wanted to break free of them, it would pose little problem.

The Chief also figured it would be a similar story for the members of team RWBY. So the question was what were the cuffs for? If he had to wager a guess, they were symbolic. They had already willingly surrendered after all, so the cuffs weren’t actually meant to restrain them, but to show their compliance.

“Interesting.” The Chief said to himself as he and the members of team RWBY were ushered onto the general’s ship.

“What was that Chief?” Ruby asked.

“Nothing, just thinking allowed.” The Chief replied.

After that the Chief was offered a seat which he didn’t think he was allowed to refuse and before long everyone was strapped in and ready to go. About a minute later he was able to watch the ship’s ramp retract, then the land fell away, and the Forerunner facility disappeared into the distance behind them.

///////////////////////////////////////

**Planet Remnant City of Vale**

When Ruby saw the city come into focus over the horizon, she couldn’t help but sigh in relief. The flight had been fairly quiet and uneventful for the members of team RWBY. They were all either too nervous about the possible fate that awaited them upon their return, or simply couldn’t think of any appropriate topics.

Ruby’s sister Yang would normally try to lighten the mood with a bad pun in a situation like this, but the girl just didn’t seem up for the task. Ruby couldn’t blame her, and for once she didn’t really mind the silence. It gave her a chance to wind down and think about everything that had happened.

The last few days have been nothing short of crazy. They had thought that they found a treasure trove when they came across the Forward onto Dawn, but what they really found was a disaster. Sure finding a Spartan war hero was cool and all, but getting chased around the galaxy by relentless alien extremists, crashing her ship, and nearly dying multiple times kind of put a damper on things.

Then there was the fact that Ruby and her crew were coming home wear cuffs instead of metals didn’t help matters. Still though, it was really good to be home and not having anyone trying to kill them. At least for now, when her dad found out what her and Yang were up to that might change. She may be an adult now, but dads never stop being dads.

Ruby’s train of thought was interrupted when she heard a voice come over the ship’s radio. It was the air traffic control apparently, they were asking for their identification codes. Ruby being a captain herself knew the routine quite well and of course their pilot was no different. He replied without delay and after only a few minutes for verification the ship was cleared for landing and they began their descent.

They had landed in the city’s upper eastern district. This section of the city was closest to Beacon and as such was almost entirely reserved for military use. The place they were landing was a sort of central headquarters for all of Remnant’s scavenger teams, hers included, which was likely why they were here.

Before long the ship had touched down and the general’s men were ushering the Chief, Ruby, and her team off the vessel in single file. However, after they walked no more than ten feet from the ship they came to a dead stop. Since the Chief was positioned at the front of their line, Ruby couldn’t make out much beyond the far larger man, so she had to peek around him to see why.

What Ruby saw was the general’s hands gripping tightly around each other behind his back. She also noted that his shoulders looked even more stiff than usual. When she looked beyond the general and towards the base itself it wasn’t hard to guess why.

What Ruby saw were none other than Ozpin himself and his second in command Glynda Goodwitch striding towards them with purpose in their step. She also noted that Goodwitch looked particularly angry today, which would normally be nightmarish, but luckily her anger didn’t seem to be aimed at her. So Ruby straightened her posture and tried her best to blend in.

“Hello James.” The Grey haired man greeted as he came to stand before the general. The man seemed quite relaxed compared to his companion.

“Oz,” The general said with a nod. “Care to tell me what you’re doing here?” He asked.

“Care to tell us what you’re doing here!?” The woman snapped as she stuck an accusing finger into the general’s chest, this action quickly put the general’s men on edge. A few of them were even already prepared to drawing their side arms when the general waved them off.

“I’m not sure what you mean, Glynda?” The general retorted. “I’m sure you’re both aware of the fact that I’m authorized to be here. Though to be fair, it has been awhile since we last saw one another in person. So perhaps you would like to see my ID?” He said sarcastically.

“Don’t play dumb with me James!” The woman known as Glynda hissed. “I’m talking about what you’re doing to our agents!” She declared before motioning towards the members of team RWBY. “Care to explain this!?”

The general sighed in frustration before replying. “Look Glynda, I’m no happier about this situation than you are, but I’m acting under the council’s orders. It’s one thing that they led the Covenant here, but they brought an UNSC soldier onto our planet. We had one rule and your agents broke it. Now we’re at risk and the council refuses to take it lying down. That means they need to be held until they can be tried. You know how this works.”

Glynda looked like she was about to argue, but Ozpin beat her to it. “What the good general says is true. Any interaction with members of the UNSC is a serious violation of our protocols.”

“Oz!?” Glynda snapped as she turned back to face her companion. “What’re you saying!? You can’t seriously be about to let this happen?!”

“Calm yourself Glynda, all I said was that James was right, not that I agree with him. We have rules for a reason, but there are always extenuating circumstances. As such I believe it is important to have all the facts before we pass any judgments.” He explained.

“So what, you want to just let them walk free?” The general asked.

“No,” Ozpin replied with a shake of his head. “The members of team RWBY shall be held and tried as you have said.” Ozpin declared.

Hearing Ozpin say this caused the members of team RWBY to tense while the general’s whole body seemed to finally relax if only slightly. “Well, I’m glad you’ve decided to listen to reason, Oz. To be honest I didn’t think-”

Whatever the general was going to say died a horrible death when Ozpin gave him a knowing smile and cut in. “However, I will be taking the members of team RWBY and the Spartan into our custody from here on out.”

“You can’t be serious!?” The general snapped. Ozpin’s only response was to raise an eyebrow. “Oz, I’m operating under the council’s orders.”

“Indeed, but as am I.” Ozpin retorted.

“What?” The general asked in confusion.

Ozpin shrugged before handing the general a small folder he had been holding on to since he arrived. “Pulled some strings, I still have a few friends upstairs it seems. In that folder is all the paperwork for the transfer, you will find it to all in order.”

The general gave Ozpin a skeptical look before flipping open the folder and skimming through the documents inside. After a moment of this he let out a defeated groan as he ran his hand down the length of his face. “Let me guess, this was Autumn’s doing?” Ozpin gave a curt nod in response. “Of course it was, well I suppose that’s fine as long as it doesn’t come back to bite me. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I wouldn’t worry James, I have everything under control.” Ozpin retorted.

With that said the general turned towards his men to address them. “We’re transferring the prisoners to Ozpin’s custody, from this point on you’re only to aid in the escort of the prisoners.”

“Actually James, that won’t be necessary.” Ozpin said waving off the soldiers. “Glynda and I will more than suffice as an escort.” The general’s head snapped back towards Ozpin so quick it looked like it might just pop off. He opened his mouth to argue, but Ozpin didn’t have any interest. “That is of course unless you doubt my abilities?”

The general’s mouth snapped back shut and his jaw clenched. Then after a huff, he finally spoke. “Fine, suit yourself, but be careful, Oz.” He warned.

“Of course, I will handle with the utmost care. Now if you'll excuse us, I have to get these prisoners processed. I have a very busy schedule ahead of me today.” Ozpin said before motioning for team RWBY and the Chief to follow.

//////////////////////////////////

Before stepping forwards, the Chief switched his attention towards Ruby. Noticing this, the red clad woman tilted her head as if posing some silent question. The Chief motioned towards the new arrivals as if asking if they could be trusted. The girl in question replied with a smile and a nod. Figuring that was a good sign, the Chief shrugged and quickly made to follow after the man he know knew as Ozpin.

From there the group was led away from the landing zone, a quick glance over his shoulder told the Chief that the general and his men weren’t following. Instead the general led his men back onto his ship and started preparing for take off.

Shortly thereafter, the group was greeted by a pair of armed guards who saluted Ozpin and Glynda. “At ease, we need to transport these prisoners.” Ozpin said before motioning for the soldiers to step aside and allow their entry. The soldiers made no arguments and quickly made way.

Deeper into the facility the Chief noticed many other young men and women moving about. Some in what appeared to be dust powered battle armors not unlike the ones team RWBY made use of. Most looked like they were fresh off the battlefield, there were plasma burns and dents covering their suits, and many looked worn out.

Everyone else the Chief saw were dressed in plain uniforms in varying colors and were either taking part in training exercises or performing minor tasks like cleaning and looking over paperwork, or they were simply enjoying some rest and relaxation.

A few of the armored and uniformed warriors seemed to notice the Chief and team RWBY as well. They looked at him curiously, but seemed to be more drawn to the cuffs binding team RWBY’s wrists. Many people seemed to recognize them and while some seemed to find it humorous, others looked aghast. The girls themselves tried to ignore the gawking, but were failing to conceal their shame and embarrassment.

The Chief on the other hand wasn’t sure what to make of all of this. He was quite impressed by the scale of this operation at least. There was no questioning that this was a well funded training facility that is if the number of sparing rings and shooting ranges were anything to go by. Not to mention the type of equipment that seemed to come as standard issue here. However all of that only served to put the Chief more on edge since there was no telling if they would remain a friend or become his foe. So he had been making it a point to read every sign and map their group passed along the way, just in case he needed to make a break for it.

Finally after about ten minutes of walking the group found themselves at a crossroads of a sort. There were several branching corridors leading into different sections of the facility, each marked with their own name plate. A quick glance back showed the Chief that they had just exited the barracks. Straight ahead of them appeared to be a research and development wing, to their left was the office wing, and to the right the prison wing.

Even from here, the Chief tensed knowing that his last chance to escape could be close at hand. However, he was then struck with confusion when Ozpin turned left towards the office wing and without missing a beat he made to follow him.

Before long the group came to a stop in what appeared to be some sort of waiting area, with an empty reception desk in the center, sofas lining the walls, and a set of elevators beyond them. It was at that moment that Ozpin turned to face the group. “Alright, that should be far enough. Glynda if you would? I don’t think they will be necessary anymore.” He said as he motioned the blonde woman towards the group’s cuffs.

“Yes of course.” Glynda said with a nod before she stepped towards each member of team RWBY and quickly unlocked their cuffs, and then to his surprise she did the same for the Chief. “There all set, I trust you will behave yourself.” She said to him before stepping back.

“Yes, thank you.” The Chief said with a nod.

“Finally!” Ruby said as her cuffs came off. “They put those things on way too tight. My wrists were starting to hurt.” She complained while rubbing her sore wrists.

“Really, they hurt even with your armor on?” Yang asked. “They didn’t bother me at all.”

“Hey I don’t wear as much armor plating on my arms as you do Yang.” Ruby said as she lifted her arms up to show her sister that it was indeed the case.

“Huh, guess so. I suppose I just never noticed.” Yang said with a shrug.

“Pardon me, Ozpin sir.” Weiss said to get the older man’s attention.

“Yes, Miss Schnee?” Ozpin asked.

“I was just wondering what happens now?” She asked. “I assume we won’t be staying in cells tonight?”

Ozpin chuckled. “No you will not. From here Glynda will be giving you your debriefing and then she will be escorting you back to your personal barracks.” He said before his expression became a bit more serious. “However, you will be considered under house arrest until further notice so I expect you to stay out of trouble.” He warned.

“Yes sir!” The members of team RWBY all said in unison.

“Good, now move along.” Ozpin said as he waved them off and motioned for Glynda to go with them.

“Wait,” Ruby began. “What about the Chief?” A good question the Chief thought to himself.

“No need to worry Miss Rose, he will be accompanying me.” Ozpin began causing Ruby to shoot him a suspicious look. “I just plan to have a little chat with him. There is much we need to discuss, but once we have finished I’m sure I can find accommodations for him.” Ozpin assured the young captain. “That is if that is okay with you, John?” Ozpin asked returning his attention to the Spartan.

“Looks like I don’t have much of a choice.” The Chief replied curtly, then he paused in thought before speaking again. “Wait, how do you know my name?”

Of course the Chief knew full well that the once top secret Spartan II project was out of the bag and after his long career ‘the Master Chief’ was likely well known across the whole galaxy at this point. However very few knew what real name was, and even fewer ever used it. So how this Ozpin knew of it, was quite the mystery to him.   
Ozpin smiled and it seemed genuine, but there was still something off putting about it. There was this certain sadness to it that the Chief couldn’t quite place. “I guess it has been awhile since we last met. I’m sure a lot’s changed for the both of us, so I can’t say I’m surprised that you don’t recognize me.”

That statement got the Chief’s attention as he then began to give the man before him a proper look over. Now that he did, he did kind of get the feeling that he’d seen his face somewhere before, but still couldn’t quite place where or when. “Cortana do we know this man, could you run the facial and vocal recognition software?” He asked, making sure his helmet’s external speakers were on mute to prevent Ozpin from hearing.

“Already on it, but this might take a minute. A few of my files had become corrupted while you were out and I never really found the motivation to defragment them.” Cortana replied.

“That’s alright, keep me posted.” Chief replied before engaging his external speakers again to speak to Ozpin. “Sorry, I can’t recall.”

“That is quite alright,” Ozpin began before motioning towards one of the two elevators before them. “Now come, let’s continue this in my office. I will explain everything there.”

The Chief gave a curt nod before following Ozpin into the elevator. From there they both made the ascent in relative silence, neither feeling the need to make small talk. Then once their shuttle reached the top and the twin doors slid open to reveal Ozpin’s office, Ozpin stepped forth and spoke again. “Would you like to take a seat?” He said while motioning to one of several chairs positioned around his desk.

“That’s alright, I think I will stand.” The Chief replied as he stepped forth to stand in the center of the space. While doing so, he took in the space itself. It had a very modern design, if a little odd. Clockwork imagery could be seen in just about every inch of the space, including the floor, the walls, and even the mans desk. However, everything looked functional at least. Though there didn’t seem to be anyway in or out, other than the elevator he had just taken, which was alarming. “Interesting office you have here.”

Ozpin chuckled as he walked passed his desk, picking up a mug as he passed, then over to a coffee machine located directly behind his desk to top off his cup. “Interesting is a word for it I suppose. Though personally, I think I may have gone a bit overboard with the renovations.” He took a long sip from his mug and then turned back towards the Chief before settling down in his desk chair. “You sure you don’t want to make yourself comfortable? You could at least take some of that armor off, it must be getting stuffy.”

“I’m use to it, besides a few of the releases were welded together by plasma rounds. I think I would need a crowbar to take this suit off now.” The Chief replied half jokingly.

Ozpin laughed again. “Oh, sounds rough. I’m sure I could get a few of my technicians to help pry you out of there once we’re done here though.”

The Chief wasn’t sure he liked the idea of letting these people handle his armor and Ozpin must have realized that as he became quiet a moment later. Then another moment of silence followed and this time the Chief felt like he should say something. “You wanted to discuss something with me?” He asked.

Ozpin gave a nod of acknowledgment before his expression took on a more serious edge. “Indeed, I wanted to talk about a great deal of things, but before any of that I feel like an introduction is in order.”

After that declaration, Ozpin took one more sip from his mug before setting it down and making to stand up. “To the people of this planet I am known as Ozpin, but that is not my true name, nor is it one you would know me by.” He explained while he turned and strode towards a corner of the room where a large storage locker of some sort stood.

“Then who are you?” The Chief asked.

“I’m,” Ozpin paused as if searching for the right words while he hit in a code on the keypad connected to the storage locker. “An old friend.” He declared as the locker’s locks disengaged and the thick metal doors swung open to revival a bulky armor suit.

The Chief paused as he took in the armor. It was a Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor just like his, the model was unmistakable. Only a Spartan could use such armor. Meaning it could only have belong to one of his own Spartan IIs and a quick glance at the number 051 painted onto the chest plate told him everything else he needed to know. “That armor, Kurt is that you?”

Ozpin smiled and gave a nod. “Hello John, it’s been a long time.”

The Chief couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Kurt disappeared over three decades ago. It was during an extravehicular mission to Station Delphi at Groombridge 34. He was supposed to investigate a ruptured Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, but his T-PACK suffered a malfunctioned and he was sent spinning away into deep space. Since then he had been listed as missing in action, but he was presumed dead. “How are you here? Is this where you’ve been all these years?” The Chief asked.

Ozpin’s smile fell. “Both are a rather long story, but to answer your second question, no. My stay here is a relatively new development. Now if you have the time, how about we do some catching up?” He offered.

“It seems like time is all I got right now and I can’t wait to hear this.” The Chief replied.

Ozpin’s smile returned as he strolled back to his desk and took a seat. Then he once again offered for the Chief to do the same and this time he accepted without hesitation. Then once seated his hands ghosted over his neck to disengage the seal holding his helmet in place. With a hiss air began to escape from his helmet then with it free, the Chief set it down on the desk with a weighty thud.

“Welded releases huh?” Ozpin asked jokingly. The Chief shrugged in response. “I see you haven’t changed much, well aside from the grey hair.

“Yeah, at least I haven’t changed as much as you have.” The Chief declared. “Though, I got to say you’ve aged a lot better than I have. Is there a story behind that?”

Ozpin gave a nod. “Yes, though it is partly because of the fact this planet has lower gravity than Earth. It creates less drag on the body and thus reduces the appearance of wrinkles. For the same reason the average height of those born here is slightly taller than Earthlings.” 

“Interesting, now that you mention it I have felt a bit lighter since I arrived here. It was an odd feeling since I’ve spent so much time in zero-g lately. Hey Cortana did you notice the gravity?” The Chief asked as he glanced down towards his helmet.

“I’m sorry, Cor who?” Ozpin said in confusion before a flicker of light shot out from the Chief’s helmet and a small holographic image took form.

“Of course I did John, however the difference is minimal, and required little to no adjustment. That’s why I didn’t feel it necessary to tell you.” Cortana responded as her holographic form stabilized. Then she looked up to meet Ozpin’s questioning gaze. “Greetings Spartan Kurt-051, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Dr. Halsey!?” Ozpin questioned before looking more closely at the AI construct. “No, is she just a copy? Tell me construct, who or what might you be?”

Cortana looked slightly offended by Ozpin’s choice of words, but decided to ignore them. “My name is Cortana. I am a smart AI that was created by Dr. Halsey by using a copy of her brain map. I am also currently acting as John’s support unit.”

“Do you remember Déjà? Cortana is basically her latest iteration.” The Chief added.

Ozpin hummed in thought before speaking. “Déjà, that’s a name I haven’t heard in quite some time. I suppose she must be decommissioned by now?” The chief gave a nod. “A shame, well either way it’s a pleasure to meet you Cortana. Thank you for looking after John all this time.”

“That goes without saying. This big guy would be completely hopeless without me.” Cortana retorted.

The Chief snorted. “Well I guess that’s true, hence why we're here in the first place.”

“Oh,” Ozpin started. “What do you mean?”

“Cortana, she is reaching the end of her life cycle.” The Chief began before sparing a glance down at his artificial partner. “At the rate of her decay, she won’t have much longer. However, she carries important intelligence making her invaluable, and I don’t just mean to the UNSC, but man kind. After I met your agents, they made mention of a way to keep an AI stable and in service indefinitely. Does such a method truly exist and if so, do you think it could help Cortana?” The Chief asked trying not to sound too hopeful.

Ozpin’s serious expression returned. “My, it seems like those girls will need another lesson in discretion. If they keep leaking secrets, it’s going to be my life cycle at risk.” Then when the Chief raised an eyebrow he let out a sigh. “Yes, there is such a method.” Both Cortana and the Chief perked up. “However, it is not without risk and from what I understand, it is not a practically pleasant solution.”

“I have had many interactions with team RWBY’s ship AI Penny over the last few days.” Cortana spoke up. “From what I understand she has also undergone this process to stay in operation, but I have noticed no irregularities in her performance.”

Ozpin’s expression was unreadable as he cleared his throat and began to reply. “Yes, I would imagine not. The process shouldn’t have any lasting side effects, that is as long as it’s a success. However, that is a big if. Like I said, there are risks and if there wasn’t such a necessity we wouldn’t even consider it an option.” Cortana and the Chief looked at one another, their expressions grim.

“What do you mean by risks? What does this process actually entail?” The Chief asked.

Ozpin picked up his coffee mug and took another long sip before replying. “I’m not really qualified to say. I have little experience in the field and do not wish to give you any false hope or misconceptions about the procedure. So if you’re really serious about pursuing it, I can introduce you to Dr. Polendina. He is the one leading up the project.”

“That will be acceptable.” The Chief said before glancing down to Cortana. “Right?”

Cortana looked up to meet the Chief’s gaze and though her expression seemed somber, there was also determination in her eyes. “I agree, we came all this way, it’s at least worth a shot.”

“Very well, I will make the arrangements.” Ozpin said. “Now that we have that out of the way, how about we do some catching up?” He offered.

“Sure, but it’s been forty years Kurt. Where do you even want to begin?” Chief asked.

“Well, I haven’t been completely out of the loop since I left. I have heard a lot about you and the others. I’ve heard much about the fall of Reach, I’m sorry by the way. About not being there to help, we lost so many of our friends and comrades in that battle.” The Chief didn’t say anything, he only gave a nod and after a moment of silence, Ozpin went on. “I also heard about the Halo Rings, the Covenant invasion of Earth, the Ark, and how you gave your life to protect us all. Though, I suppose that last part wasn’t such good information after all.”

The Chief laughed. “You know how the saying goes.”

“Spartans never die.” Ozpin finished for the Chief. “I’ve never liked that saying you know. We’ve both lost enough to know how empty it really is.”

“It gives the people hope.” The Chief said, though he didn’t really sound like he believed his own words.

“Even hope can be a dangerous thing when used carelessly. It’s one thing when you’re the soldier fighting on the front lines of a hopeless war. However, all of that propaganda takes on a far more sinister form when you’re the person who’s forced to feed it to the next generation.” Ozpin declared.

Chief had to take back what he had said earlier about Kurt not having changed. He’d changed a lot since they’ve last spoken and he wanted to know why. “Kurt, what have you been doing all this time?” Chief asked.

Ozpin sighed. “The accident that caused my disappearance, it wasn’t an accident. I was enlisted in a top secret project. A project even Dr. Halsey couldn’t know about.”

The Chief raised an eyebrow. “What kind of project?”

“The Spartan III program.” Ozpin said causing Cortana to gasp and the Chief’s eyes to widen, if only slightly. “I was tasked with training the next generation of Spartans. However, it wasn’t like what we had gone through.”

“How so?” The chief asked.

“There was a tighter budget. We had to be cost effective, which meant being less selective in our candidates, we had to offer them cheaper equipment, give them a shorter time frame for training, and the higher ups wanted a larger scale production.” Ozpin listed off.

“They wanted you to mass-produce Spartans!?” Cortana hissed. Dr. Halsey would have been furious if she heard about this which was likely the cause of Cortana’s anger. Ozpin gave the AI a grim nod causing her anger to flare. “How many did they make?!”

“During my time with the program, we created three companies and had plans in place for a fourth. All together they were a little shy of one-thousand strong.” Ozpin replied.

“That’s quite impressive.” The Chief said.

Ozpin shook his head. “They were good soldiers, I made sure of that. They were strong, intelligent, resourceful, but corners were cut and it showed. Of the first two companies there were only two survivors.”

Cortana’s mouth fell agape and she became speechless, luckily the Chief came to her rescue. “What could’ve caused such a death toll?” He asked.

Ozpin grimaced. “They were doomed from the very beginning. The missions that the higher ups had intended for them were nothing short of suicidal. Most were one way trips into hostile territory to take out high value and heavily guarded targets. Most of Beta Company was wiped out in just one operation.”

“That’s horrible.” Cortana muttered, all Ozpin could do was nod in agreement.

“You said there was a fourth company planned,” The Chief began, wanting to change the subject. “What happened to them?”

Ozpin looked thoughtful for a moment. “Ah yes, Delta Company. I’m not really sure to be honest. As far as I’m aware their training never began.”

“Why is that?” The Chief asked.

“Our primary training facility was attacked. However it wasn’t the Covenant, at least not in the beginning.” Ozpin began. “You see it was located on a plant known as Onyx. We chose this planet because it was out of the way, off record, but little did we know it was also a forerunner shield world literally teaming with sentinel drones.”

“The sentinel’s attack you?” Cortana asked. Ozpin gave a nod. “But you had been there awhile right? What set them off?”

Ozpin laughed mirthlessly. “We didn’t find that out until much later, but as it turned out when you and John here destroyed the first Halo, it put all forerunner installations across the galaxy into security lockdown. The attack happened right as we were entering the final training stages for Gamma Company before Delta had arrived to begin theirs. Luckily or rather unluckily depending on your perspective, most of Gamma Company had already shipped out. However for those of us who were left, we faced with thousands of flying death machines bent on purging us from the planet.”

“Things only got crazier from there.” Ozpin added. “Before long Dr. Halsey herself showed up looking for answers about the existence of our program. Talk about poor timing, am I right? Not to mention when Blue team appeared in a stolen Covenant ship, with the former owners hot on their tail.”

“Dr. Halsey was there!?” Cortana asked.

“Blue team was there!?” Chief asked almost at the same time. The Chief and Cortana shared a look before the Chief went on. “Are they okay?”

“Last I saw them Linda, Fred, and the Doctor were all alive and well, but I’m afraid Will wasn’t as lucky.” Ozpin said causing Chief’s expression to stiffen, but he didn’t interrupt. “Once everything kicked off, it turned into a complete cluster fuck with me and my trainees stuck in the middle of it all. The others only survived by entering the forerunner slipspace portal located in the center of the planet. It took them off world, to a proper shield world, so they would have been safe even when the planet collapsed in on itself.”

“That’s insane.” Cortana declared.

“What about you?” The Chief asked. “If you weren’t with the others, where were you? How did you survive?”

Ozpin took a deep measured breath before answering. “I don’t really know. I planned on holding off the Covenant to make sure they couldn’t reach the portal before it closed. The last thing I remember was detonating a pair of FENRIS nuclear warhead. I saw a flash of light, I assumed it was death, but then I just found myself here on Remnant without a scratch on me.”

“What?” Cortana and the Chief said at the same time. This time Cortana went on. “That’s not possible, it defies science.”

Ozpin shrugged. “All known sciences anyway, but here I am, alive and well. Now with the war over, I plan to use my skills to benefit all of humanity.”

“You plan on doing that by creating more super soldiers?” Cortana asked skeptically. “We’ve seen what those kids of yours can do and no offense, but it seems like more of the same.”

“None taken Cortana, and I know it seems odd, but it’s all I know. In my life, I have made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child. However, I have learned from those mistakes and now know the right path.” Ozpin explained.

“What’s different this time around?” The Chief asked.

“What I created, what we were made for, all of them, all of us, we were agents of war. Tools of destruction created with the sole purpose of laying waste to our enemies. We lived and died, not for ourselves, but for our mission. While I can’t argue the necessity such soldiers had in the past, I believe that those times are over, and we can all finally move forward. Not as weapons of war, but as messengers of peace. That is the scavenger’s true purpose, my purpose.” Ozpin declared.

“And if war comes again?” Cortana inquired. “If human history has shown us anything, peace never lasts forever.”

“Then my agents will stop it.” Ozpin replied without hesitation.

“Do you think your children can handle that?” Cortana asked.

“Personally I hope they never need to,” Ozpin began before his eyes took on a dangerous edge. “But if the day ever arises when they’re needed, they will be ready.”

The Chief smiled, he smiled more widely than either of his companions had ever seen before. “I just got one question for you Kurt.” Ozpin gave the Chief his full attention. “Do you need any help?”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////

**Planet Remnant City of Vale West District**

The sun was setting on the horizon and the panic of the day was finally starting to subside. For many the day had begun with shock and horror and either ended in tragedy or relief. However, for one individual, the day had started off interesting and full of potential, but ultimately ended in disappointment.

Now this individual resting in on her penthouses velvet sofa and watching the news of the day through her hand held scroll. The headlines were about as she had predicted they would be. ‘Covenant Human treaty broken, Covenant Invasion averted, scavenging team blamed for attack.’ However it was the last article that really caught her attention.

“UNSC Spartan captured?” The woman hummed to herself. “Now that is interesting.” After listening to the reporter speak for a few more seconds and realizing that she wasn’t going to get much more information, she clicked away. Moving to written articles hoping they would be more informative.

Before the woman could learn much else though, her scroll began to hum as a call came in. The woman huffed in annoyance before she slid a delicate finger over the answer button. That’s when the image of a grey haired young man with a serious expression appeared on the scream. “Ma’am,” The man greeted. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“No, at least it was nothing important.” The woman said as she brushed some of her long raven black hair aside and focused both of her bright amber eyes on the man on the other side of the screen. “Do you need something Mercury?” She asked sounding slightly impatient.

The man on the screen cleared his throat before speaking again. “I trust you’ve seen the news?”

“I have,” The woman said as she took a moment to inspect her nails. “What of it?”

“The Spartan ma’am, do you think he will be a problem?” The man asked. “I was under the impression that the UNSC was still in the dark.”

“That has yet to be seen, but he is one who should be monitored closely.” The woman replied. “As for the UNSC, I wouldn’t worry. If they were going to make a move, they wouldn’t send a single Spartan in alone, and if the Spartan was acting under orders, they would never surrender to enemy custody.”

“So you think the Spartan is acting alone?” The man asks.

“Indeed, now what we must learn is why. That will be you and Emerald’s job.” The woman declared.

“Understood ma’am.” The man replied before he heard a clatter coming from somewhere on the other side of the screen. “Ma’am what was that sound? Is everything alright?” He asked.

The woman looked back over the sofa and huffed. “Everything is fine, just my cat.”

“Oh, I see. Well that is all I suppose, goodnight ma’am.” The man said.

“Wait, I have one more thing.” The woman said getting the man’s attention. “The new addition to our team I promised will be joining you very soon. I want you to pass on the message to Emerald as well.”

“Oh, about time we got to meet this guy.” The man said as he began to smile. “What’s his name anyway?”

“All in good time Mercury,” The woman said while waving off the man. “Now you have your orders so I’m hanging up now.”

“Yes ma’am.” The man said with a sigh before the call ended.

The moment the call was over there was another clatter in the behind the woman coming from her kitchen. “What are you doing in there!?” She hissed.

The voice of a young man came back. “I’m making a sandwich!”

“Then why does it sound like you're fighting someone to the death in there?!” The woman retorted. “You better not be making a mess!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault I had to search every drawer in here just to find the bloody butter knives! It’s no wonder everyone thinks you're evil! Seriously, what kind of sane person keeps their silverware in the cabinets!? And don’t even get me started on the peanut butter I found in the refrigerator! Complete madness!” The male voice yelled back.

The woman being quite use to the bothersome man’s antics slumped back down in her sofa and huffed in annoyance while rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I heard you had to use my little gift tonight.” She stated.

“Oh, and who told you that?” The man asked.

“Who do you think?” The woman scuffed.

The man groaned in feigned annoyance. “That figures. That girl is bar none the most talkative mute in history.”

“Did she prove useful?” The woman asked.

“Quite, though I’m surprised she didn’t tell you as much herself. She seems like a bragger.” The man replied.

“She did,” The woman admitted. “However it can be difficult to believe someone when they boast about themselves.”

“True indeed.” The voice replied.

After a moment of silence the woman began again. “Jaune,” She said before pausing as the man in question threw himself over the back of the sofa to land beside the woman with his freshly prepared snack in hand.

“Yes Cinder?” Jaune asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.

The woman known as Cinder leveled a fierce glare on the man sitting beside her. His bright blue eyes showed no fear however, so she began to speak. “I will be making use of your services soon. However, before that we will need to establish a new identity for you while you work with us. Your position with the scavengers still holds a great deal of value to us, so we can’t risk that.”

“So an alias, huh?” Jaune asked as he took another bite. Cinder gave a nod. “I got just the thing then.” He said as he sat up from the sofa and began walking over to the mini-bar set up in the corner of the room.”

“Oh, and what would be?” Cinder asked curiously.

Jaune laughed as he picked up a bottle from the counter and downed half it in one go. Then he reached over to a nearby stool which had a black helmet resting upon it. Once he had a hold of the helmet he snapped it in place over his head and turned back towards Cinder. “You can call me Felix.”

Cinder hummed in thought as she rolled the name around on her tongue. “Felix, I suppose that will do. I will contact Roman and have him procure all the necessary documentation tomorrow.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Jaune said dismissively.

Cinder glared back at him. “What do you mean?” She demanded.

Jaune shrugged. “I already have documentation for this guy.”

Cinder’s glare intensified. “You mean, you’ve used this identity in the past?”

“Yeah, but no worries, the papers are good and there’s no connection to Jaune Arc or Remnant. As far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned, Felix is just another Earth soldier turned mercenary. If we go with this, it will save us all some work.” Jaune said.

Cinder sighed. “Fine, but I’m still having Roman look over your documentation. That’s an order.”

Jaune (Felix) shrugged and turned back towards the bar. “That’s fine by me, as long as we’re finally going to do something.”

“We will,” Cinder said before she turned to look towards the opposing side of the room which had a set of glass doors leading out onto a balcony. The sun had fully set now and the broken moon and Beacon tower were both in full view. “We will, very soon.”


End file.
